Iğdır Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi e-ISSN: 2147-6152 Yıl 10, Sayı 27, Temmuz 2021 Makale Adı /Article Name Flactuating Relations Between Iran 1958’den Günümüze İran ve Irak Kürt and The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Bölgesel Yönetimi Arasindaki Government Since 1958 Kararsız İlişkiler Yazar/Author Engin KOÇ Asst. Prof. Dr. Bursa Technical University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of International Relations, [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0003-3682-8718 Yayın Bilgisi/Article Information Yayın Türü: Araştırma Makalesi Gönderim Tarihi: 30.06.2021 Kabul Tarihi: 07.07.2021 Yayın Tarihi: 31.07.2021 Sayfa Aralığı: 304-319 Kaynak Gösterme/Citation Koç, Engin (2021). “Flactuating Relations Between Iran and The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Since 1958”, Iğdır Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, S. 27, s. 304-319. (Bu makale, yazar beyanına göre, TR DİZİN tarafından öngörülen “ETİK KURUL ONAYI” gerektirmemektedir.) Flactuating Relations Between Iran and The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Since 1958 ABSTRACT ÖZ This paper examines the ups and downs bilateral Bu makale, İran ve Irak Kürdistan Bölgesel relations between Iran and the Iraqi-Kurdistan Hükümeti (IKBY) arasındaki inişli çıkışlı ilişkileri Regional Government (KRG). The Iranian incelemektedir. İranlı siyasetçiler ve Iraklı Kürtler, politicians and Iraqi Kurds have had pragmatical uzun yıllar Bağdat üzerinden inşa edilen pragmatik relationship independent from Baghdad for many ilişkilere sahipti. Bununla birlikte, General years. However, separatist Kurdish movements Abdulkerim Kasım darbesine kadar ayrılıkçı Kürt were seen as a joint target by both Iran and Iraq hareketleri hem İran hem de Irak tarafından ortak until General Abdulkarim Qasim’s coup in 1958. tehdit olarak algılandı. 1958 Irak darbesinden sonra Since the coup in Iraq, the Kurdish issue has been Kürtler her iki devlet tarafından birbirlerini used against each other by two sides. The zayıflatmak amacıyla sürekli kullanıldı. İran ve relationship between the Iranian and Iraqi Kurds Iraklı Kürtler arasındaki ilişkiler 1991 yılındaki I. has changed dramatically since the first Gulf War Körfez Savaşı'ndan günümüze dramatik bir şekilde in 1991. However, since the 2003 invasion of Iraq değişti. 2003 yılında ABD'nin Irak'ı işgal by the USA, Iran’s influence has been growing, not etmesinden sonrası İran'ın etkisi sadece Bağdat'ta only in Baghdad, but also in Erbil. Meanwhile, after değil aynı zamanda da Erbil'de de arttı. Bununla the KRG’s decision to hold a referendum on beraber, IKBY'nin bağımsızlık referandumuna independence, Iran put pressure on the KRG and gitme kararından sonra İran, IKBY'ye baskı tried to isolate Erbil, as Turkey, Iraq, and Syria did. yaparak Erbil'i Türkiye, Irak ve Suriye ile birlikte Tehran is not willing to let an independent Kurdish izole etmeye çalıştı. Tahran, kendi sınırlarındaki state be established near its borders because of İran Kürdistan Demokrat Partisi ve PJAK gibi Kürt Iran’s local Kurdish secessionist groups, such as the bölücü gruplardan algıladığı tehdit nedeniyle Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and PJAK. bağımsız bir Kürt devleti görmek istememektedir. This study analyzes the reasons for the conflict and Bu çalışma, İran ve Irak Kürtleri arasında çatışma cooperation between the Iranian regime, and Iraqi ve işbirliği nedenlerini analiz etmekle birlikte, 1979 Kurds and focuses on how the Iranian revolution in İran Devrimi, DAEŞ terörünün bölgede güçlenmesi 1979, the ISIL terrorism and the independence ve 2017 bağımsızlık referandumunun ilişkileri nasıl referendum held in 2017 have effected their etkilediğini irdelemektedir. relations. Anahtar Kelimeler: İran, IKBY, Iraklı Kürtler, Key Words: Iran, KRG, Iraqi Kurds, Independence Bağımsızlık referendum Referendum, ISIL Introduction In the Ottoman era, Iraq consisted of three major regions; comprising Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra. Iraq also consisted of some major ethnic and religious groups, such as Shia-Sunni Arabs, Turkmens, Kurds, Jews, and Christians. After the establishment of modern Iraq, these fragile and distinct social structures created new problems for the new Iraqi regime, despite their fragile ethnic and sectarian differences, which were created to be an appropriate situation for external interventions in Iraq. However, Iran has many similarities with the ethnic and religious social structure of Iraq. After official relations were established, both states suffered the same ethnic problem, i.e. the Kurdish issue. The Kurds had been living on the frontier between Iran and Iraq, and their population spread out towards Iran (10%) and Iraq (17%). Kurds living in both countries as a semi-feudal (tribal) society had kinship ties with the Kurds who were living in Turkey and Syria. The transnational structure and nature character of the Kurdish people within the national 305 Engin KOÇ states have caused serious ethnic and political problems for the newly founded nation states in the Middle East. The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had a foreign policy approach towards to two of the non-state actors in the Middle East, the Iraqi Kurds and Shias in Lebanon. Historically Iran has had deep, cultural and geographic ties with the Kurdish people and Iran has also had sectarian links and solidarity with Lebanese Shia (Reisinezhad, 2018: 61). For the Kurds mostly follow the Sunni sect of Islam, but some of them who live in contemporary Kirmanshah, like other Iranians, follow Ithna Ashari Shia (the Feyli Kurds, who were originally exiled from Iraq to Iran in 1970) and other Shia Kurds living south of Kurdistan Province in Iran. Majority of Kurds in Iran also follow the Sunni sect as an ethnic minority (McDowall, 2007: 11). In the post-Ottoman era in Iraq, Iran was willing to support any Iraqi Kurdish group against the new found Baghdad regime. However, the Kurds in Iran had begun to revolt against Tehran to set up an independent Kurdish Sunni state, and many Iraqi Kurdish tribes were involved in these attempts in Iran. Since it was not a strong regime, Iran decided to sign a security agreement with Turkey and Iraq in 1937, known as the Treaty of Sadabad (Reisinezhad, 2018: 63-64), in order to prevent possible Kurdish revolts. In the wake of the Second World War, British and French influence declined in the Middle East, but the political interventions by the USA and USSR increased dramatically. Both Superpowers in the Cold War era supported the independent and legitimate political actors of the sovereign states, since they ‘theoretically’ opposed both the mandate system and colonization (Boulby, 2013: 48). In the beginning of 1945, the Soviets supported the Azari Turks under the lead by Jafar Pishevari who had governed temporarily “National Autonomous State of Azerbaijan” from December 1945 to December 1946 as unrecognized de facto state. Pishevari behaved as a Soviet proxy political leader in Northern Iran until Soviet troop’s departure (Bolukbasi, 2011: 48). Some of such activities were fulfilled by the Communist Soviet-backed parties, such as the Tudeh and the Kurdish Communist Party or Komala (The Organization of Revolutionary Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan) (Ward, 2009: 181). At the same time, the Iranian Kurds announced the independent Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad, in January 1946 (Wilber, 1981: 240), which survived until Mohammed Reza Shah’s troops arrived in Mahabad in December 1946 (Nader, 2016: 104). It should be mentioned, that there was some difference between the Kurds and Azerbaijani Turks in Iran. Differences are such as: historical problems and disputed issues among the people, Turks were living in Urmieh, from Rezaieh to Maku, Kurds as tribes living in hills commanding the plains and some places mixed (Roosvelt, 1947: 258). During the Iranian crisis between November 1945 and June 1946, the USA countered the Soviets in Iran. The crisis occurred because of the Soviets’ reluctance 306 Iğdır Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Temmuz 2021, Sayı 27 Flactuating Relations Between Iran and The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Since 1958 to withdraw their army from Northern Iran and their support to some separatists’ groups in Iran, such as the Turks, Kurds, and Communist Tudeh Party. After strong criticism by the USA, the Soviets started to mobilize their military presence away from Iran and towards their own borders, and the USA also achieved the first political victory of the Cold War against Moscow (Hess, 1974: 117). The Mahabad Republic was an important experience in the Kurdish national memory, which was affected by the latter formation of the Kurdish insurgent groups, not only in Iran but also in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. This study will examine the important turning points in bilateral relations between Iran and Iraqi Kurds, sensitive issues and mutual expectations. The argument of this study is that the relations between Iran and Iraqi Kurds are not on a long term strategic level and these relations are built in the context of absolute short term tactical gains. From Solidarity to Conflict in Iran and Iraq Relations over the Kurds In July 1958, the Iraqi Hashemite regime was ousted from power by a coup led by General Qasim. While Iraq sided with the Soviets, Iran sided with the USA and it was also the turning point in Iran’s foreign policy towards non-state actors in the region. Soon after relations between the Iraqi Kurds and Qasim shifted from reconciliation to conflict, Iran started to set up strategic relations with the Kurds in Iraq against Qasim’s regime (Reisinezhad, 2018: 73), because the Shah was concerned that the new Iraqi regime would be able to diminish the Persian sovereignty over its own Arab-populated territory in Khuzestan and also Soviet- affiliated regime would encourage leftist groups in Iran. Under such circumstances, the Kurds became the most appropriate pawn for Iran’s Shah against Baghdad. This was a unique milestone between Iran and Iraq because until 1958, both states had not used Kurds to disadvantage the others. Since then, Kurdish groups have been used as a convenient tool in order to diminish the Iraqi government’s power and influence other actors in Iraq by Iran’s regime.