It gets weirder. The Kurdistan Regional Government’s representative in Washington, Qubad Talabany — son of Iraqi President Jalal — just released a statement denying that the Turkish military crossed the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, though he warns about a Turkish “troop build-up”:
“I wanted to clarify that as of today no Turkish forces have entered Iraq’s Kurdistan region. We are closely monitoring the troop build-up on the Turkish side of the border, and we are receiving up-to-date information from our security posts inside Iraqi Kurdistan. The troop build-up does cause us some concern, especially as Iraqi Kurdistan stands as Iraq’s only true stable region, however, as of today, no forces have crossed that border.”
The rest of the statement carries an implicit warning to the Turks:
“The Kurdistan Regional Government remains committed to a peaceful and strategic relationship with Turkey and feels that any unilateral cross-border raid into Kurdistan would not only violate Iraq’s territorial integrity, but would negatively impact our efforts to promote better political and economic ties between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey.”
That bit about “unilateral” Turkish action is very reminiscent of Sec. Gates’s recent comment about a potential Turkish push into Kurdistan. That’s surely no accident.