The Executions of Qarah… America and Turkey enter the first clash in the Biden era
Washington’s questioning of Turkey’s account of the execution of 13 of her citizens in northern Iraq came as the first escalation between the two countries in the era of US President Joe Biden.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said his soldiers found 13 Turkish bodies in a controlled cave in the Qarah region of northern Iraq, where Ankara launched an operation against the PKK since Wednesday.
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Washington of “supporting terrorism”.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also summoned the US Ambassador to Ankara to formally protest a statement by his US counterpart, which included expressions questioning Ankara’s account of the PKK’s allegations of executing 13 Turkish nationals in northern Iraq.
According to Turkish newspaper Ahval, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşo, informed his American counterpart Anthony Blinken during the first telephone conversation between them since the Biden administration began their work that his country is uncomfortable with recent American statements.
The escalation comes at the height of latent disagreements between the two sides, and a timing that is not in the interest of Turkey, which is under the weight of an economic crisis and is already afraid of US and European sanctions due to practices that the West considers aggressive behavior and a violation of international charters and laws.
Turkey claimed that the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) executed 13 of her citizens in Iraq, while the US State Department’s statement contained a conviction, but it accompanied the phrase “if the news of the murder of citizens Turkish people in the hands of the PKK were right ”while questioning the Turkish narrative.
The news was denied by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and confirmed that it was a false account and that those who had been targeted by members of the intelligence services and killed in raids launched by Ankara.
The Turkish version raises doubts as to her veracity regarding her claim that those who were shot were civilians who were kidnapped by the PKK, while they wondered if they had been kidnapped from Turkey and transferred to northern Iraq, and this in itself is not plausible due to the logistical difficulties of any abduction and transfer out of Turkish territory.
Moreover, accepting the assumption that this account is correct, in turn, signifies the weakness and penetration of the Turkish security services.
Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes against PKK rear bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq, and these operations raise tensions with the Iraqi government.
The Biden administration appears determined to take tougher positions than Erdogan, as demonstrated in an interview in January 2019 in which Biden described his Turkish counterpart as a “tyrant” and criticized his actions towards the Kurds, claiming that Ankara should “pay the price”.
He also indicated the need for Washington to support the leaders of the Turkish opposition “to be able to face and defeat Erdogan not by a coup, but by an electoral process”.
Biden pledged to recognize the Armenian Genocide, a hugely controversial issue for Ankara, and US presidents have avoided recognizing her for a century.
