Hurriyet published an article by Murat Yetkin devoted to Iranian-Turkish relations.
"Turkey and Iran have experienced highpoints in their centuries-long relationship, but the last few months were not among them," the article reads.
"Since the deterioration of the situation in Syria into a civil war, Turkey has started to accuse Iran through ranking officials of helping outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants use Iranian territory in order to carry out attacks in Turkey. The Turkish Army has been in a wide-scale operation in the Şemdinli-Hakkari areas bordering both Iraq and Iran since the end of last July. Hundreds of PKK militants and dozens of Turkish security personnel, soldiers and policemen have been killed in those clashes so far."
"Ankara had the feeling that in order to divert the Turkish government’s and the Army’s attention from the Syrian border, the Iranian regime, as a friend of the Syrian regime, had turned a blind eye to PKK militants (they had been carrying out massive operations against the PKK’s Iran branch, PJAK, themselves up until some six months ago) using their territory. At one point a government spokesman and the deputy prime minister openly mentioned “Syrian and Iranian spies” who might be involved in PKK attacks."
"Perhaps it is just a series of coincidences, but there might be more to watch during Erdoğan’s contacts in New York during the U.N. General Assembly next week," the author concludes.
