Description
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), a semi-autonomous area in Erbil in the north of Iraq and governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has emerged as a competitive area between Turkey and Iran since the two regional powers have sought to enhance their influence. This competition between them reflects on the domestic politics of the KRI. Turkey has established close ties with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) under the Barzanis and centered on Erbil, while Iran has mainly established warming affairs with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) controlled by the Talabanis and centered on Sulaymaniyah. Therefore, Turkey has economically and politically cooperated with the KDP to balance Iranian influence on Iraq and the KRI.
However, Turkey entered a collaboration with Iran during the 2017 independence referendum of the KRG since the referendum posed a threat to their interests. As such, Ankara had in common with Tehran and sought to prevent the actualization of the referendum. This paper explains that the reason behind Turkey's rapprochement with Iran in the KRI is Turkey's domestic factors. The rise of nationalist and anti-Western perceptions in Turkish domestic politics and Turkey's security considerations against the Kurdish groups paved the way for a detente in Turkish Foreign Policy (TFP) towards Iran in the KRI for a short-term period. As a theoretical background, the paper utilizes Schweller's balance of interest approach to scrutinize this detente in TFP towards Iran in the KRI.