Iraqi Kurdistan-Turkey Relations, At A Glance.

Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani (L)
and Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. (AP photo) 

   The conflict between Turkey and Kurdish groups who demand an independent or autonomous Kurdistan for their ethnic group, along with political and cultural rights within the Turkish Republic, seems like it is far from coming to an end. Insurgents of the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) and other rebel groups carry out attacks mainly in Southern-Eastern Turkey, and Turkish police and army, clashes with Kurdish protesters, both committing numerous human rights abuses.

   Of course, Iraqi Kurdistan could not be excluded from this vicious circle, since this Kurdish autonomous region within the Iraqi borders is a basic launchpad for the insurgents acting in Turkey. When Kurdistan Regional Government claimed insufficiency of military forces to prevent PKK and other groups from operating, despite the fact that this region is within Iraqi territory, Turkish Air and Ground Forces have repeatedly violated the airspace and borders of their neighbor state, striking possible targets in the region and causing reactions of both Iraqi government and the Kurdish Autonomous Region's leaders.

   The tension in the region, at both sides of the Iraq-Turkey borders, seemed to impede any form of cooperation between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had once said Iraqi Kurdish regional President was a "bandit", and accused the latter's government for not doing enough to stop rebel groups. From the Turkish point of view, PKK was fighting against the Turkish State in favor of the rights of all Kurds.

   However, the deeper, great fear of Turkey, according to analysts, was not the current conflict, but the possibility of Iraqi Kurdistan's declaration of independence as a new state. Ankara was able to realize that this action would mean the stimulation of the feelings of the Kurdish population within the Turkish borders, and their desire to declare independence too, by any means. So, any kind of political, economic or diplomatic development of Iraqi Kurdistan, may have been against Turkey's interests.

   But lately, as the wider region's situation became unstable, the facts of this relationship started to change. The crisis in Iraq, with Sunni opposition groups and Kurds fighting against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the continuous conflicts in mutual neighbor, Syria, brought the leadership of Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan closer. Turkish officials have even made statements about the international role of the Iraqi Kurds, and said that they consider them as an important ally, while formal visits of Regional Government's President and Prime Minister took place in Turkey, strengthening the bonds between the two leaderships.

   An important fact which consists an addition to this relation's built-up, is the growing tension between Turkey and Iraq's central government. Although there are periods during which Iraq and Turkey cooperate, frictions in diplomatic and political level often take place. A recent one, happened when Iraq accused Turkey for violating its airspace and striking targets within the Iraqi borders. Ankara said that the strikes were on suspected PKK militant targets, and Iraq threatened to protest to the UN for the massive violations of its airspace by warplanes and helicopters.  Through these frictions, the relations of Iraqi Kurdistan with Turkey, sometimes find their ways to bloom.

    Lately, energy trade issues consists the new link between Ankara and Iraqi Kurds. Turkey officially stated that started importing five to ten road tankers of crude from the autonomous Kurdish region, after signing an agreement only with the Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan, without going through Iraq's central government, and added that according to plans, the volume may rise up to one or two hundred tankers per day. A more stable and organized energy alliance between Turkey and Kurdish region of Iraq could create stronger bonds between them. Of course, Baghdad strongly opposes to these plans, even at the current limited scale, since the Iraqi government considers the oil exports without official state permission, illegal and illegitimate. What Baghdad says is that oil is property of all Iraqi people and no export should take place without being organised and agreed by the central government, and warns Turkey that this action could seriously damage their trade relations.

   However, the reactions of Iraqi state towards both Ankara and the autonomous region, may lead to a tightening of the relations between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, since their energy bonds, combined with the aforementioned reasons for the two leaderships to come closer, could consist a platform for a future stable alliance. Of course, what should always be kept in mind is the wider and longitudinal situation between Kurds and the Turkish state.

Status Of The Russian Radar Station In Azerbaijan.

Qabala Radar Station, Azerbaijan (Reuters / Sergei Karpukhin)

   Qabala Radar, named after the homonymous city in the northern Azerbaijan, is a Daryal (or Pechora) type of radar, whose construction started in 1978 and completed in 1984 by the USSR, entering service in 1985. The Daryal type is bistatic and uses the phased-array technology. It belongs to the category of the early warning radars and occupies an area of 210 hectares. It's range is 3.728 miles or approximately 6.000 kilometers, able to detect missile launches even from Indian Ocean. It gives also the opportunity for enabling a missile defense, since it is able to detect the missile's trajectory. The Qabala Radar Station hosts about 1000 Russian servicemen, and the whole station, including the 30 hectares garbage dump, covers an area of 240 hectares. 

   In 2002, negotiations between Russia and Azerbaijan governments, resulted into a lease plan according to which, Russia would be able to keep operating the Qabala Radar in favor of its early-warning defense system until 2012. According to sources, the annual payment agreed was 7 million US dollars. 

   Vladimir Putin, the president of Russian Federation, watching the debates of the USA about planning to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system in Eastern Europe with the excuse of the possible hostility of Iran, Iraq and North Korea, offered to the US the chance of a cooperation in this defense section by providing the Qabala Radar as a substitute to the initial USA plan that included a radar system in Czech Republic and 10 interceptor rockets in Poland. In September 2007, an experts' delegation from USA, visited the Qabala Radar and was given an extended tour to the facilities. After that, the head of the delegation, General Patrick O'Reilly, mentioned that there were no formal negotiations, adding that the visit took place in order for the US to fully understand the nature and details of the Russian proposal. Although, United States ended up rejecting this proposal, claiming that the existing radar system was not sophisticated enough to cover the demands of their anti-ballistic missile plan. They also insisted in going on with their plan about Czech Republic and Poland, a decision that has been made clear during the meeting between Putin and Bush, when the latter said that “the Czech Republic and Poland need to be an integral part of the system”, in International Herald Tribune. 

   As the leasing plan of the Qabala Radar Station approaches to its deadline, Russia starts negotiations with Azerbaijan about expanding the agreement. Within the proposals of the Federation are the “[...] plans for the modernization of the radar station,” as Russian Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov have said to RIA-Novosti. 

     Latest Updates

   However, according to latest updates, Baku demands a serious rise in the annual rent, by tens of times, causing confusion and reactions to Moscow. Sources mention that the demanded rent for the contract to be renewed -until 2025 as Russia wishes- is around $300 million per year. Taking under consideration that until now, Russia had to pay $7 million per year, this rise, along with the cost of the necessary repair and maintenance, leads the Russian Defense Ministry to no other alternative than quitting the project and Russia's presence in Qabala, if the economic terms of Azerbaijan remain intransigent.

For an extended research of the Russian Radar Station in Azerbaijan, see Black Sea Military Dynamics: the Reemergence Of Russia.