Iyad Ajaja, a political analyst and specialist in Turkish-Kurdish affairs who teaches at the University of Dahuk, told Al-Monitor, “There is internal objection and a fierce opposition within Turkey against Erdogan’s policy regarding the ongoing peace process in Turkey with the Kurds, especially among the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party, which strongly oppose this policy.”
Ajaj asserted, “There is a continuous economic circle between the region and Turkey, and there is no doubt that in the event of any internal disorder in Turkey, these relationships will be affected.”
The KRG perceives Turkey as the only artery it has to access European countries or world trade on the Mediterranean Sea, especially after the deterioration of the situation in Syria and the inability to continue to trade through Syrian ports.
Ajaj said, “These relations may get tense, not only with the Kurdistan region, but also with all the countries that have advanced economic relations with Turkey.”
Idriss Ramadan, a Kurdish economic analyst and academic, said that if the demonstrations were held for domestic issues and for defending the rights of all of Turkey’s people — including Turks and Kurds — then these relations will not be affected.
However, he added, “If these demonstrations are against the AKP government and aim to overthrow Erdogan, then Turkey’s economic relations with the Kurdistan region will be affected.”
He clarified that “since politics and the economy are two sides of the same coin, and given that these relations have evolved and expanded during the era of Erdogan, any change in the ruling system in Turkey will also lead to a coup in Kurdish-Turkish relations.”
Abdel Hamid Zebari is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor’s Iraq Pulse. A reporter from Erbil who works in print journalism and radio, he has published several reports in local and world media, including Agence France-Press and Radio Free Iraq (Radio Free Europe).
Comments are closed.