Pay attention not only to the TRNC, but also to Kirkuk!...

MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli, following the independence referendum held by Masoud Barzani on September 25, 2017, which also included Kirkuk, stated: "At least 5,000 volunteer idealists are standing ready to join the struggle for existence, unity, and order in Turkish cities where Turkmens live, primarily in Kirkuk."

He then issued the following warnings:

"We are not bluffing, we are not speaking empty words... We desire for Barzani to be corrected urgently and to turn back from this mistake. Otherwise, if the territorial integrity of Iraq is disrupted and the regional status is overturned, we must use our rights arising from international treaties, primarily the 1926 Ankara Treaty, to the fullest. When that time comes, when conditions are met, and when history becomes too narrow for geography, the National Pact (Misak-ı Milli) will awaken; no power will be able to stand in the way of the right to say 82 Kirkuk and 83 Mosul immediately after 81 Düzce."

During the clashes that occurred when HTS set out to topple Assad, he did not provide a license plate number; however, he said the following regarding Aleppo:

"Our prayer is for Syria to reach an environment of peace, stability, and tranquility as soon as possible. However, in a fragmented Syrian picture, leaving Aleppo to its fate and handing it over to wild and foreign hands is a product of imagination. And when such a moment comes, history will repeat itself line by line, page by page, the commercial break will end, the trailer screening will finish, and the geography will return to its essence once again."

Finally, on October 19, following Tufan Erhürman's victory in the TRNC Presidential election, Bahçeli demanded that the TRNC Parliament convene urgently to "declare that the election results and a return to a federation will not be accepted, and to take a decision to join the Republic of Turkey."

Although Erdoğan and AKP members congratulated Erhürman, three days later at the MHP Parliamentary Group Meeting, he recalled his 2017 statement regarding Kirkuk and Mosul and spoke as follows:

"While remaining committed to this view and goal of ours to the end, due to the urgency of the situation, I will make a partial revision for now and say this: It has now become a matter of life and death for the TRNC to be 82 after 81 Düzce."

According to Bahçeli, a "political mentality that is closed to a two-state solution based on sovereign equality and that gives a green light to federation aspirations" had come to power in the TRNC, and there was an "imminent threat."

TV BROADCASTS AND "STATE WISDOM"

We learned why he made all these statements three days later, again from him. He said;

"Before the election, there were many discussions on TV channels about whether it should be a federation or a two-state solution. That is why I made the statement immediately, as I thought that the tiny spark of federation should not turn into a fire with the victory of a candidate who advocates the idea of a federation. Because this becoming an expectation creates a very dangerous situation for Turkey. A federation in the TRNC also triggers the forces aiming for a federation in Syria. This is unacceptable for Turkey. Looking at it in this context, the most correct decision would be for the TRNC to join Turkey."

Setting aside the strangeness of someone considered to have "state wisdom"—as he directs the government's policies—developing ideas by watching television debates regarding the TRNC; is it not a very serious policy change to now want it to be made a province of Turkey, while for years the discourse has been "the TRNC must be recognized"?

It seems all hope has been lost for the "brotherly" countries to recognize the TRNC!..

THE LATEST SITUATION IN KIRKUK

Before coming to what the Barzanis said about Kirkuk in the work for the Iraqi Parliamentary elections to be held on November 11, let us quote another part of that 2017 speech by MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli. He emphasized the following:

"Barzani has set up ballot boxes in regions that are disputed according to the Iraqi Constitution, primarily Kirkuk. The Peshmerga administration has long considered the districts of Bashiqa, Akra, and Sinjar in Mosul; the Tuz Khurmatu district of Saladin; and the Khanaqin district and Mandali sub-district of Diyala as disputed territories. In fact, there is no document, no evidence, and no agreement that the other cities, apart from Kirkuk, are disputed territories. I want to say very clearly; for half a century, the aim has been to change the demographic structure in Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, Altun Kupri, Kifri, Tal Afar, Khanaqin, and Mandali. After 2004, games that would not even occur to the devil have been played to assimilate our Turkmen brothers, systematically burn title deed records, and subject them to ethnic cleansing and liquidation; help has been sought from violence and shows of force. Make no mistake, the responsible and guilty party is the Barzani clan leader Masoud Barzani, the protector and supporter of the PKK and the hope of the murderers of our soldiers... Our reckoning with them will be settled before the Day of Judgment."

Now let us look at what the Barzanis are saying 8 years later.

Prime Minister and KDP Deputy President Masrour Barzani, while calling for strong participation in the upcoming Iraqi Parliamentary elections and stating that there are many constitutional issues still not implemented, such as Article 140 of the Constitution, claimed that "regions such as Sinjar, Zummar (a sub-district of Tal Afar), Makhmur, Kirkuk, and Khanaqin are Kurdistan lands and must one day return to Kurdistan."

Again, at a rally where Masrour Barzani introduced his party's Kirkuk candidates, he said, "In the next term of the Iraqi parliament, we will exert all our efforts and work for the return of Kurdish regions outside the administration of the Kurdistan regional government," and noted the following:

"Our candidates are going to Baghdad to implement Article 140. If Kirkuk is in the hands of the KDP, it will be an example of coexistence for the whole world. We want to bring our enlightened project to Kirkuk. Khanaqin, Sinjar, Zumar, and other regions must return to the Kurdistan Region."

Nechirvan Barzani, a very close friend of Erdoğan and the AKP, who called for "1 million votes" for the KDP, also emphasized that this election would be a turning point in Iraq, that his party aimed to "ensure the implementation of federalism and the Iraqi constitution" in the new period, and noted that "the problems experienced in issues such as Article 140, the rights of the Peshmerga, and their armament stem from the non-implementation of the constitution."

Nechirvan Barzani announced the KDP's goal as "strengthening Kurdish-Arab brotherhood."

PREPARATION FOR INDEPENDENCE?

You know the Atlantic Council, which is alleged to work for the CIA in the US and has inspired many of the PKK openings in our country with the reports it has prepared. When it prepared a report titled "Building Trust Between Turks and Iraqi Kurds" in 2009, MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli had pointed out that "views that would lead to the complete destruction of the unitary and national state, especially in the constitutional texts hidden by the AKP," were included in that report.

What a coincidence, this Atlantic Council organized a panel titled "The Iraqi Constitution after 20 Years" just before the Iraqi elections. Hemin Hawrami, a KDP Politburo member and former deputy speaker of the Barzanistan parliament, who spoke at the panel, explained that "federalism has failed in Iraq," that "Article 140 regarding Kirkuk and disputed territories has not been implemented," and also that the 2017 independence referendum "led all Iraqis outside the Kurdistan region to see federalism as 'separation' rather than 'coexistence,' which made it difficult to change the perception."

The threat from the PKK, after Israel established a base in the Greek Cypriot side, that "the die will be cast in Cyprus"...

The supposed departure of PKK members in Turkey to Qandil...

The gradual officialization of the so-called autonomy of the PKK/YPG/PYD in Syria and perhaps its unification with Barzanistan...

Those discourses in the election campaigns of those in Barzanistan, who have considered Kirkuk their capital since the occupation of Iraq...

Doesn't it sound like the footsteps of new preparations right under our noses?!

What we mean is; since the ultimate goal of the "Greater Kurdistan" advocates is access to the Mediterranean, that is, Cyprus, Bahçeli's revision of "82 Kirkuk to 82 TRNC due to the urgency of the situation" is not enough; it is necessary to pay attention to the TRNC and Kirkuk together.

The Republic of Turkey will remain forever. Happy 102nd anniversary of our Republic Day.

Müyesser YILDIZ

October 29, 2025