By Zülfikar Doğan, Al-Monitor: “Turkish-Iraqi relations had become extremely tense until the decision by Massoud Barzani, former president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to hold an independence referendum for Iraqi Kurdistan. Barzani's ill-fated move made fast friends of Ankara and Baghdad. Now, it appears that Turkey and Iraq have found further common cause, this time for joint military action against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
By Will Staton, Strategy Bridge: “Considered the world’s largest stateless group, an estimated around 25 million Kurds live in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Armenia, and Iran.”
(The Associated Press) A senior Kurdish official who played a key role with the United States in implementing its post-Islamic State group policy in northern Syria has been found dead in his apartment, Kurdish officials said Thursday.