Critical messages from Barzani’s aide

I met with Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff to President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Masoud Barzani in Istanbul right after their critical meetings with President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in Ankara July 14. Hussein was in Washington last week where he visited U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden to discuss their bid for independence. He answered all of my questions during our two-hour conversation.

Hussein started by saying that 1,035-km of Kurdistan’s 1,050-km border is now with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “We woke up one day with three entities in Iraq, terrorists along our borders and new neighbors,” he said.

When I asked him about the content of their critical meetings in Ankara the day before, he said one of the crucial aspects of the Ankara-Arbil relationship is security. “In the past, Turkey used to perceive Kurdistan as a threat. Today, both of us are cooperating against our common threat posed by a third party, ISIL.”

Apparently security has been the top item at the meetings in Ankara. Even though he did not reveal the details, he underlined that both counties are working together to cooperate on security matters.

Is Ankara not against their independence? He explained that first the internal and external grounds need to be ready: “We need to prepare the external ground, in other words, our neighbors. Their support is our top priority.” He signals that they would take the next step only with the support of Turkey.

According to Hussein, there is a big change in Turkey’s reaction toward Kurdistan compared to the past: “The Turkish government...