What are the reflections of the US-Israel alliance on the ground in the PKK/YPG dimension?

We left behind a week full of howlers, or is it just me? Just when we had started to talk about the great disaster, the elections, cellular election alliance initiatives, Finland's entry into NATO, time suddenly got hotter and faster. Apart from other things, it seems to me that life has accelerated a bit more since we entered the election atmosphere? We always know that time gains meaning through relativity. I think Einstein's theory of relativity applies everywhere. In other words, the theory that all beings, the physical events of existence are relative has been in force recently. However, I also feel that we are entering into an accelerated time travel like a bottomless vortex. And it is a fact, we are on an omen, we are going into the unknown and a pre-apocalyptic time. 

We have already experienced a situation close to the apocalypse, the disaster of the century, but we could not settle down. Yes, dear readers, doesn't it feel like that to you? I don't know, but the days, weeks, months and seasons are all blending together and disappearing at a dizzying speed like leaves torn from a calendar. A new bundle of leaves falls to the ground. It seems to me that the flow of time we perceive is also related to the amount of new information we grasp. Every day, brand new and surprising information makes it necessary for us to reformat our perception. 

Last week, the visit of the US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley to the "Syrian PeKaKa Satellite State", an ally of the US in Northern Syria, turned our gaze to the south and southeast. This visit was immediately followed by the arrival of the Commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) General Michael Erik Kurilla in Northern Syria to turn Milley's planning guide into an action plan. It is understood that the Syrian PeKaKa forces were also planned to be part of this formation and operation before a major action by the US-Israeli alliance. Or is it intended to make a new organizational systematic dominant in the north of Syria and Iraq? Let us elaborate a little more. 

Is it intended to bring the powerful "Patriotic Union of Kurdistan" (PUK) closer to the Syrian-Iraqi border and merge it with the Syrian PeKaKa Satellite State by bringing it closer to the Syrian-Iraqi border in the time of Jalal Talabani, who spent his life in shuttle diplomacy between Damascus and Tehran in the past and who made the famous aphorism "We will not give Turkey even a Kurdish cat" (1)? What do you think? Is this situation too utopian? It is a very ambitious approach, but this is what it looks like. So what does it mean? That is to leave the economically unproductive Dohuk-Erbil to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)-led Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and to create a new autonomous region by merging the oil region of Sulaymaniyah-Kirkuk-Mosul and the areas held by the Syrian PeKaKa, i.e. the PYD/YPG. The US-Israeli alliance has placed special emphasis on integrating the oil regions through the "Holy Prophet David Corridor" starting from Suwayda and including the US base in Tanif and Walid. (2)  

This is the antidote to the Iran Corridor (3), which runs along the Tehran-Baquba-Shirqat-Sinjar-Rabia-Kamishli-Aynoularab-North of Aleppo-Idlip-Homs-Latakia route.  The success of Netanyahu and Jewish extremists in the Israeli elections, Hezbollah's growing presence in South Lebanon and Iranian-backed missile technology increase the likelihood of a war between the US-Israeli alliance and Iran. At the same time that Iran's purchase of SU-35 fighter jets from Russia was finalized, the Israeli Air Force began training for long-range airstrikes at the US base in Nevada. In the light of these signs, it is assessed that an Iranian frenzy may occur with the US-Israeli alliance. In other words, in the context of global warfare, it is quite interesting to see that regional base preparation for a possible joint operation in the Middle East is being added to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia War in the North.

Incidentally, two issues come to the fore in the US-Israel alliance's preference for the PUK. The first is Talabani's statement "We will not give Turkey even one Kurdish cat". As is well known, this well-defined statement was made in response to Turkey's extradition request after 12 soldiers were martyred in an attack by the terrorist organization PeKaKa in Hakkari in 2007. After the treacherous attack in Dağlıca, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani made the following statement: 

"We offer our condolences to the families of the martyrs. Turkey wants PKK officials from us. The capture and delivery of Kurdish officials is a dream that will not come true. We cannot hand over a Kurd, not even a Kurdish cat." (1)

The meaning of this challenge is clearly an indication that the PUK is closer to PeKaKa than the KDP. After the KDP mended its relations with "Hashd al-Shaabi" behind closed doors, the PUK turned towards the Syrian PUK. Hashd al-Shaabi was formed after ISIS captured Mosul in 2014, bringing together different Iraqi militias. Hashd al-Shaabi is mostly composed of Shiite militias, but it also includes a small number of Sunni groups. The Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias, which have been increasing their influence in Iraq and Syria, have strengthened their position as a "state within a state" in Iraq. (4) 

Jalal Talabani, who served as Iraq's president between 2005 and 2014, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage after a meeting with then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on December 17, 2012, and since then he has been paralyzed from the neck down and has been kept alive until his death. After the death of Jalal Talabani, the architect of the former pro-Iranian policies, on October 3, 2017 in Berlin, it was his wife 'Hero Ibrahim Ahmed' who had a say over his PUK party and fulfilled all the obligations of public relations, especially after his brain hemorrhage. Jalal Talabani and his wife Hero Talabani had two sons, Pavel and Kubat Talabani, from their long marriage and Jalal Talabani's favorite son Kubat Talabani, whom Jalal Talabani had warmed up to politics in his health, is married to Sherri Kraham of Jewish origin.  

However, Lahur Sheikh Gengi, the son of Jalal Talabani's older brother Sheikh Gengi and head of the PUK's intelligence agency (Zenyari), has also become a prominent figure within the PUK. The results of the PUK's fourth PUK congress, which was held on December 21-24, 2019 with the slogan of "renewal" after a nine-year political hiatus, also showed that the Sheikh Jangri family's influence within the PUK increased after the death of Jalal Talabani. One of the most noteworthy issues at this point was the election of Lahur Sheikh Janggi as the chairman of the Central Decision and Executive Committee (CCEC) meeting for the first time by receiving 91 percent of the votes. On February 11, 2020, according to the results of the vote at the PUK's General Presidency Assembly held in Sulaymaniyah, it was decided that the party would be governed by a co-chairmanship system instead of the general secretariat system. As a result of this decision, Bafel Talabani and Lahur Sheikh Janggi, two cousins, were elected co-chairs of the party. (5) 

Since the PUK, which has been governed by a secretary-general, in other words, a singular leadership since its foundation, was not used to the co-chairmanship system, it brought along many speculations. In fact, it was thought that the leadership crisis, which had been going on for three years following the death of Jalal Talabani and which had caused conflicts within the party, had been resolved to some extent with the adoption of the co-chairmanship system. However, upon further escalation of tensions, the PUK administration convened in Sulaymaniyah on August 28, 2022 and announced the abolition of the co-chairmanship system with a vote. 

Lahur, on the other hand, took a stand against this decision and described what happened as a conspiracy and said that he would not "abandon his nation" until his last breath. At this point, although Lahur Sheikh Jangri tried to keep the tension high, the Jalal Talabani family, including Bavel Talabani, showed an attitude towards softening the process. For this reason, it is considered that the US-Israel alliance may have implemented its new organization plan through Pavel Talabani and YPG (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel) 'People's Protection Units' Commander Mazlum Kobani. With this plan put into practice by CENTCOM, this is how time has accelerated in the PeKaKa Satellite State, which captured one third of the Syrian territory in northern Syria with the support of the US as a fait accompli. 

Undoubtedly, a multi-purpose helicopter that can fly at low altitude and is less vulnerable to UCAVs thanks to the equipment on board has suddenly surfaced in the region. I am referring to the two helicopters that crashed in Dohuk, whose nationality could not be determined at first. The news that "a helicopter crashed in Dohuk" appeared in the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government media after midnight on March 15, 2023 inevitably locked us on this issue. In the two known high-level visits, CENTCOM's helicopters were mainly used. But this situation was different. When it became clear that first one, then two, then two helicopters crashed in Duhuk, the first question that came to mind was the type of helicopter. It was soon learned that the two helicopters that had crashed were Eurocopter AS 350 type helicopters, which could fly at low altitude and therefore could not be detected by radar. After that, the question that needed to be answered immediately was, did these two helicopters crash? Were they shot down? Or did they collide? Or did they collide?  At the very least, the situation was reminiscent of the disastrous April 25, 1980 secret rescue of hostages from the US embassy in Tehran, dubbed "Operation Eagle Claw". A helicopter and a C-130 cargo plane en route to the rendezvous point 400 kilometers southeast of Tehran crashed in a sudden sandstorm, killing 8 US soldiers. 

Captain Kevin Livingston, spokesperson for the US-led coalition against ISIS, said that the downed helicopters "do not belong to the coalition and are not part of counter-ISIS operations." His statement was followed by an unthinkable explanation.  What was it? The two helicopters that collided belonged to the Syrian PeKaKaKaKa. This statement also confirmed Prime Minister Tansu Çiller's claim in 1995 that "the PKK has helicopters". Mazlum Abdi made the following statement on his Twitter account, sharing a picture of YAT members who lost their lives in the helicopter crash:

"Our 9 fighters, including the commander of our Special Anti-Terrorist Forces (YAT), Shervan Kobani, who was on his way to the Kurdistan Region as part of a joint action program against ISIS, were martyred. Their sacrifice will remain as a way to protect the freedom of our people and our land. We extend our condolences to the families of the martyrs and our people." (6)

As seen in the statement, the subject of the work was presented as a joint action program against ISIS, as they deceived the whole world. Şirvan Kobani, one of the terrorists killed in the helicopter, was the son of Mazlum Kobani's sister and grandson of Fehmi Abdo, the leader of the organization's Syrian branch. The helicopters were delivered 15 months ago. Pilot trainings started in 2020. US commanders also participated in the trainings. But the most interesting thing is that Jalal Talabani's son Bafil Talabani also participated in the trainings from time to time. So much so that Bavel Talabani and Shirvan Kobani even posed for a photo during the training (7) 

Their integration, their steps towards unification are the best evidence of this. After all this, I would like to say that all this increases the likelihood - I call it madness - of a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran. Moreover, this crazy project is reminiscent of the Operation Opera carried out by Israel 42 years ago on June 7, 1981 against Iraq's "Osirak Nuclear Facility". The crash of two helicopters in Dohuk, which was a maneuver of internal warfare, strengthens the possibility of PUK integration as well as the Syrian PeKaKa'a's engagement with Hashd al-Shaabi during this operation. What is also interesting, dear readers, is the acceleration of time in the Middle East tensions at a time when the two poles, Iran and Saudi Arabia, have decided to bury the hatchet, thanks to Chinese mediation. 

Footnotes:

(1) İnternet Haber, “Celal Talabani Türkiye'ye bir Kürt kedi bile vermeyiz demişti!” 04.10.2017; https://www.internethaber.com/celal-talabani-turkiyeye-bir-kurt-kedi-bile-vermeyiz-demisti-1812133h.htm/Erişim Tarihi 19.03.2023/

(2) Abdullah Manaz, “ABD ve İsrail’in Yeni Kürdistan Modeli: Davut Koridoru”, Manaznet, ; https://www.manaz.net/tag/davut-koridoru/ Erişim Tarihi 19.03.2023/

(3) Adem Yılmaz, “İran için Sincar'ın stratejik önemi”, Independent Türkçe, 9 Mart 2021, İran Koridoru (Guardian graphic.jpg) Harita: The Guardian graphic; https://www.indyturk.com/node/327426/haber/i%CC%87ran-i%C3%A7in-sincar%C4%B1n-stratejik-%C3%B6nemi/ Erişim Tarihi 19.03.2023/

(4)  Selami Kökçam, “Irak'ta devlet içinde devlet: Haşdi Şaabi”, TRT Haber, 16 Nisan 2021; https://www.trthaber.com/haber/dunya/irakta-devlet-icinde-devlet-hasdi-sabi-562458.html/ Erişim Tarihi 19.03.2023/

(5) Bilgay Duman, “KYB’de tekil liderliğe dönüş ne ifade ediyor?”, RUDAW, 29.08.2022; https://www.rudaw.net/turkish/opinion/29082022/ Erişim Tarihi 19.03.2023/

(6) https://www.rudaw.net/turkish/kurdistan/170320235/ Erişim Tarihi 19.03.2023/

(7) Çetiner Çetin, “PKK’nın helikopter kazası… Peki nereden buldular?”, Habertürk, 18.03.2023; https://www.haberturk.com/yazarlar/cetiner-cetin/3574636-pkknin-helikopter-kazasi-peki-nereden-buldular/ Erişim Tarihi 19.03.2023/