The world had been anxious about Turkey’s threats to launch a military attack against Kurdish rebel positions inside Iraqi territory, and the Turkish military finally attacked the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases with more than 50 warplanes on Sunday.

After a period of peace and stability, once again the PKK managed to create an atmosphere of terror in southeast Turkey by carrying out military actions against sensitive government centers and killing many Turkish soldiers.
Although this militia group has been in conflict with the Turkish military for years, the pattern of their harassments shows that the PKK has somehow timed their attacks based on developments in neighboring countries, or in other words, their actions have been influenced by lateral developments.
At the same time, with the political developments in Turkey, especially the Justice and Development Party’s assumption of the presidency, the PKK started a new phase of military action, after a long period of silence and inactivity, to remind Turkish officials of their existence in a political gambit meant to convince the authorities to meet their demands.
Moreover, the history of the PKK shows that they always play the role of a follower, and in fact their activities are planned outside Turkish territory.
Despite all the flexibility that successive Turkish governments have shown, the PKK has always been an anti-government group with an aggressive stance seeking to attain ethnic rights and certain concessions for the millions of Kurds of Turkey.
Thus, the Turkish military’s decision to bomb the PKK bases in northern Iraq can be viewed from various perspectives.
The first point is the timing of the attack. It seems that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has been making every effort to avoid a public relations catastrophe.
Taking into account all the political and security issues of Iraq, this attack was launched at a time when the Iraqi government had overcome many of its security problems and was able to weather the storm of the aftershocks of the incursion.
The nature of the military operation reveals some aspects of Ankara’s political and security strategies. Whereas Turkey’s previous incursions into Iraqi territory had been by ground troops, this time the region was bombed through air strikes so no problem was created for the foreign troops based in Iraq.
Although Turkish citizens have been pressuring their leaders to take revenge against the Kurds and large demonstrations have been held in Turkey’s major cities calling for action, Turkey’s military and security officials were waiting for the right time to attack the PKK rebels.
The United States upbraided the leaders of the Kurdistan autonomous government of northern Iraq for failing to control the insurgents after the PKK launched attacks against Turkey which compelled the Turkish government to warn about the possibility of retaliatory strikes.
But, at the time, the leaders of the Kurdistan autonomous government of northern Iraq did not heed the U.S. warning and refused to curb the activities of the PKK.
The approach of foreign troops, especially U.S. forces, toward security developments in Iraq shows that they are seeking to demonstrate their hegemony over the region and to defeat their rivals, or at least reduce their influence in the region.
Since Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq has extensive relations with the U.S., if any country wants to take action against the region, especially military action, it must coordinate its activities with the United States.
Many analysts believe the bombing of the Kurdish bases was a commensurate response to the PKK’s extensive terrorist acts against Turkey, which had resulted in military and civilian casualties and sparked large demonstrations.
Over time, it will be revealed that this military strike could only have been possible in coordination with the United States