After the US president ordered to kill General Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian military, the move has received widespread reactions. Political and military officials as well as the Iranian people participated in an unprecedented level in the funeral of General Qasem Soleimani and unanimously demanded severe avenge. US President Donald Trump threatened to retaliate by tweeting in response to Iranian retaliation that, in the case of an Iranian attack on US targets, he would target 52 points referring to the 52 US embassy hostages at the beginning of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Accordingly, most political experts outside of Iran believed that Iran would respond through proxy organizations in the region, but after the funeral of General Qasem Soleimani, Iran targeted US bases in Iraq during an operation called “Martyr Soleimani”. This came as a surprise to everyone, especially as Iranian missiles hit the targets easily. In this regard, we talked to the Nevzat Bingol, a political expert and a Turkish Kurd.
“The message of these missiles to US bases near Erbil, as well as in the Sunni Arab areas of Iraq, is that if you think the US will protect you because you voted against the bill on us expel from Iraq, you are wrong. We can hit the US anywhere, including inside Iraq, and hit its local supporters, so you are wrong, and must have voted for the expel, I don’t think this will lead to a full-scale war or World War III, and the United States may also strike targets in response,” he said. It will respond as well, and these clashes will not reach full scale, but it does indicate that Iran-US relations are becoming increasingly strained. From now on, the United States will move toward the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and encourage the KRG to declare independence. Since the referendum has already been held and this is a document in the atmosphere in which people have demanded independence, so the United States will incite the KRG authorities to declare independence. The United States had previously opposed it and did not find it appropriate at the time to declare independence so as not to provoke Iran’s intervention. And the US intends to make an alliance with the newly-founded Kurdistan in this way, declaring that any country that attacks it will enter into war with the United States. The United States is also planning to evacuate the Incirlik base and establish a similar base in the Kurdish region of Harir instead. We know there is an airport right now.
Bingol also spoke about what the Turkish reaction would be if the KRG declares independence: I don’t think Turkey will oppose it because Turkey, now, has a lot of problems such as relations with the US, including the Halk Bank issue, iots presence in Mediterranean Sea, Libya, Syria and many other problems, and Erdogan’s own problem for America. It all makes Turkey unable or unwilling to act militarily, so it will not oppose the option of Kurdistan’s independence.
