Is it possible to have a joint operation with Iran?

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the National Movement Party (MHP), recently criticized the Kurdish Regional Government's (KRG) plan to hold an independence referendum and said "this should be considered 'casus belli' [cause for war]."

Some might have realized that Bahçeli's statements in the recent past on foreign policy issues have turned out to be Turkey's official foreign policy.

Most probably, following this statement, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's rhetoric against the referendum will become harsher.

Ankara tried to convince the KRG leader Massoud Barzani with diplomacy. It might now resort to tougher measures.

The first signal about such a policy change came recently against the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK) of the Talabani family, which is the second most important political power in northern Iraq. The PUK's Ankara representative Behruz Gelali was deported. Gelali could not hide his astonishment as he had to leave Turkey in three days after he was informed about the decision. "I have been in Turkey for the past 17 years. We have seen many crises but solved them through diplomacy. But the Turks this time went straight to a harsh measure," he said.

While inquiring about this rather harsh decision, I found out that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had kidnapped two citizens of the Turkish Republic in Suleymaniyah, Iraq and far from protecting these Turkish citizens, the members of the PUK have been in activities that may be considered supportive of the PKK's kidnapping.

In a previous article, I had referred to an Iranian diplomat who had told me "Turkey and Iran should not permit this [referendum], which will give the biggest harm to us."

A few days...