In the joint operation launched by the Iraqi army and the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias on the disputed area of Kirkuk under the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the Peshmerga-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were defeated. As a result of this defeat, the KRG had to withdraw back to its 2003 borders. The “independence referendum” KRG President Masoud Barzani had held with overt support from Israel and covert support from the U.S. and certain Western countries, with the dream of establishing a “Great Kurdistan,” had also ended in this defeat. Despite the U.S. and Israel, Syria and Iraq’s territorial integrity could be protected for now, with the support of Iran and Russia for the Astana process that was started with Turkey’s preemptive efforts.

While the number of Turkmens, Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians forced to migrate from Kirkuk during CIA agent Saddam Hussein’s administration was about 11,000, 700,000 Kurds were transferred to Kirkuk post-Saddam. The population of Kirkuk, which used to be 830,000, has now, based on information published by Iraq’s Independent Supreme Election Commission, exceeded 1.5 million, in efforts to eliminate primarily the Turkmens, Arabs and other minorities. The analysis by investigative reporter Stephen Farrell and published in The New York Times on Dec. 9, 2007, with the headline, “As Iraqis Vie for Kirkuk's Oil, Kurds Are Pawns,” on the change in the demographic structure of the Turkmen city, Kirkuk, clearly reveals Barzani’s second betrayal against Turkey.

Cooperation and friendship between Turkey and Iran is very valuable for the national security of both countries.

One of the most important reasons for the failure of the century-old destruction scenarios of imperialist global powers targeting the countries in the region, is that the targeted countries could not come together as their ethnic and sectarian differences are always stirred. The Astana alliance between Turkey, Iran and Russia, seems to have “spoiled Pentagon’s global game” this time around. The war scenario Pentagon is trying to create between Turkey and Iran, like the seven-year war between Iraq and Iran in the past, failed thanks to both countries defending Syria and Iraq’s territorial integrity as well as their cooperation and agreements in areas of security and economy. Hence, the friendship and cooperation between Turkey and Iran is very valuable as it concerns the countries’ national securities.

Under these circumstances, certain columnists criticizing the ruling government in their analyses aimed at making a comparison between the Hashd al-Shaabi and Barzani, and as a matter of fact, their considering the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias to be more dangerous than Barzani or Daesh is their own opinion and I respect that.

However, “if the homeland is in question, the rest is detail.”