AssessmentsJul 24, 2019 | 09:00 GMT
Turkey's Delicate Dance in Iraqi Kurdistan
On July 17, a Turkish diplomat was shot and killed in eastern Arbil, the capital of Iraq's northern Kurdish region. The assassination was likely perpetrated by a sympathizer of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the Kurdish group that Turkey has been targeting in regional military operations for decades. Ankara's high-risk tolerance will serve it well in the months ahead, as it continues to prioritize building its Iraqi-Kurdish ties -- taking advantage of the economic leverage it wields over the newly formed Kurdistan Regional Government. But just how much violence and political backlash Turkey can endure to prevent the formation of an independent Kurdish state will be tested because the risks in the region, as evidenced by the latest incident, remain as high as ever.
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