Iran's role in the PKK's recent terror campaigns

The Turkish press tends to analyze the Kurdish Worker's Party's (PKK) recent attack from a domestic political perspective.

Right before the attack I, too, wrote a piece and analyzed the domestic factors that may have played a role in the PKK's decision to intensify the fight again. Most of the analyses concentrated on hard-liners within the ranks of the PKK, such as Mustafa Karasu, Cemil Bay and Duran Kalkan, otherwise known as the "Ankaral Grubu." The hard-liners in the PKK resist the idea of peace that Abdullah calan is negotiating for.

It is a fact that the "Ankaral Grubu" originated from former leftist organizations, some of them having had close relations with the leftist Aydinlik network in 1970s. Moreover, the leader of the Aydinlik network, Dogu Perincek, visited the PKK's camps in the 1990s and offered calan roses. Back then, calan supported the Ergenekon-linked PKK leaders maintaining relations with the "deep state" so that he could use them whenever he needed them.

The Ergenekon investigation revealed that the Aydinlik political network has had close relations with the Ergenekon network. In fact, its leader and many other leading figures are suspected of having been a part of Ergenekon-related criminal networks. More importantly, the Aydinlik political network is the leading political network that advocates anti-American and anti-NATO sentiments and promotes establishing a Russian-Iranian-Turkish axis (Perhaps even the American ambassador is aware of this network' anti-American rhetoric; he joked about its leader when he visited a shop and asked for a portrait of Perincek).

It is no secret that the Ergenekon network does not want to see a democratic Turkey and tries to maintain the status quo. As a last resort it would not hesitate to use terrorism as a means to reach its aim. Thus, any analysis that puts Turkish domestic politics into consideration and refers to possible cooperation between the Ergenekon network and the PKK hard-liners is correct.

However, one dimension is missing in this analysis, which is the impact of the changing nature of international relations in the region. Since the political crisis erupted in Syria, Turkey's friendly relations with both Syria and Iran have soured, as Syria turns more and more to Iran.

Not surprisingly, from the onset of the unrest in Syria, the Aydinlik network has been supporting the Assad regime in Syria. When Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited Iran last week, the Aydinlik newspaper, the lading newspaper of this network, ran a headline saying, "A Persian Slap in the Face of Ahmet Davutoglu," arguing that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad had warned Davutoglu, stating, "Syria belongs to our family." Not surprisingly, the Aydinlik network supported Iran in taking a stand against Turkish foreign policy preferences.

Here, one needs to note that Iranian intelligence services have extended their activities to reach out to various segments of Turkish society. Now, one wonders what has changed within the Aydinlik network, which considered Iran its enemy up until eight years ago but now supports Iran's foreign policy in the region and promotes the idea of establishing a Turkish-Russian-Iranian axis as opposed to Turkey's alliance with NATO.

Where does the PKK stand among these complex, intertwining relations? Throughout the 1990s, Iran and Syria were two of the countries that supported the PKK in order to destabilize Turkey. Iran's closest associate within the PKK network is Bayik, who is also the leading figure of the "Ankaralilar Group," which, in turn, is linked to the Ergenekon network.

Since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran has abandoned its policy of support for the PKK. However, Bayik has always had connections with Iran. For instance, in 2008 the Turkish General Staff posted a press release on its website which stated: "As a result of the Turkish air strike on the Kandil Mountains, a senior PKK commander, Cemil Bayik, fled into a neighboring country together with a large group of PKK members, engaging in clashes with local security forces." (tsk.mil.tr) The release did not name the neighboring country, but it appears to have been Iran.

It seems that as Turkey's interests in Syria begin to conflict with those of Iran, which supports Bashar al-Assad's regime there, Iran is returning to its old policy: supporting the PKK terrorist organization to destabilize Turkey in order to expand its conflict into Turkey so that Iran can maintain its influence in the region.

Thus, while Turkey is negotiating to bring the PKK militants down from the mountains, Iran is using its influence over people like Bayik to intensify terror campaigns on Turkish soil, which also helps the Ergenekon network support both Iran and the PKK's hard-liners, perhaps because Iran may have had relations with them over the last few years.

Not surprisingly, as the Sabah newspaper reported, it was Bayik who ordered the killing of 13 soldiers a few days ago, despite the fact that calan openly declared on July 15 that the PKK should not break its cease-fire. Sabah further reported that Bayik had stated that "an operation with high casualties would herald a new era for the PKK." Knowing the fact that Bayik, without substantive support from an international actor, would not have moved a finger against calan's order, the act of violence can be seen as a direct challenge to calan's authority, which could represent a breaking point for both Turkey and the PKK if Iran once again bets its money on the PKK and Bayik.

All in all, the PKK militants' fight against Turkey is one that can be analyzed out of context with the shifted foreign policy of both Iran and Syria, who do not shy away from exerting their influence over political actors in Turkey. Political observers would do well to closely monitor odd political alliances between Iran, the Ergenekon network and especially the Aydinlik group, which openly supported Iran in recent months, not to mention the PKK's recent terror campaigns.

Source: TODAYS ZAMAN