Turkey’s Kurds reject US-Israeli 'designs' in Iran as Netanyahu bets on uprising
Turkey's pro-Kurdish party on Sunday criticised the US-Israeli war on Iran, saying it opposed “external designs” on the country.
“It is clear that global and regional powers are, as in other historical examples, seeking to establish a new order in Iran that would no longer pose a threat to themselves, rather than prioritizing democracy and freedoms,” the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (Dem) Party said in a statement.
The party, which has the third-largest number of MPs in parliament, said the ongoing strikes do not serve the expectations of a new, free life for minorities in the country, including Kurds, Balochs, Christians and Azerbaijanis.
An Axios report late on Monday said that US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Kurdish leaders in Iraq over the weekend to discuss the US-Israeli war on Iran and what might come next.
Israeli and American forces targeted several Iranian military posts in western Iran on Monday near the Iraqi border, where thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga security forces are present.
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The report added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had lobbied Trump for months to make the calls to Iraqi Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani, arguing that “the Kurds were going to rise up”, according to one official.
“When he first came over and sat with Trump for hours, you would have thought Netanyahu had it all figured out,” the official said.
“He had the successor planned out. He had the Kurds all figured out - two sets of Kurdish groups here and there. This many people are going to rise up,” the official added.
Turkish Dem Party rejects US regime change
However, Turkey's Dem Party, a political group with ties to Kurds in Iran, offered a more nuanced take on the US-Israeli operations.
“We are witnessing examples that demonstrate the ongoing air strikes do not create conditions that would correspond to the expectations of a new, free life for Kurds, Baloch, Christians, Azerbaijanis, and Persian communities in Iran.”
'The ongoing air strikes do not create conditions that would correspond to the expectations of a new, free life for Kurds, Baloch, Christians... in Iran'
- Dem Party statement
“We have not forgotten and will not forget the killings of Jina Mahsa Amini, Mujahid Kurkur, Dr Qasimlo, Ramin Hossein Panahi, and tens of thousands of other Iranians of different identities by the Mullah regime,” the party said.
“However, we continue to maintain that change in the current regime in Iran should come not through external designs but through the collective will of its peoples.”
On Tuesday, in an address to the parliament, Dem co-chair Tulay Hatimogulları described the US-Israeli attacks on Iran as “wars of imperialism aimed at redesigning the global system on a worldwide scale”, adding that authoritarian regimes in the region were acting as proxies for imperialist powers.
“While the US and Israel were continuing negotiations with Iran at the table, they launched attacks on Iran; there is a possibility that this war could engulf the entire region,” she said.
“It has already spread to Iraq, Lebanon and the Gulf countries. In these attacks, a girls' primary school in Iran was struck," Hatimogulları added, noting that more than 150 schoolgirls were killed.
Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been engaged in peace talks since late 2024, resulting in the armed group’s decision to disband after nearly 40 years of conflict with the Turkish government.
Setbacks in negotiations between Turkey and the PKK have largely been overcome, as the new Syrian government signed an integration agreement earlier this year with Kurdish groups linked to the organisation in northeastern Syria. Ankara had insisted that the process would not move forward until a resolution in Syria was secured.
Iran targets Kurdish groups
However, the PKK's Iranian affiliate, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), remains active in Iran.
PJAK, along with four other Kurdish groups - the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan, and a branch of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan - formed a coalition against the Tehran government last month.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking to journalists on Monday, said Ankara was closely monitoring developments in Iran to determine whether PJAK might attempt to launch an insurgency, which could affect Ankara's talks with the PKK. PJAK declared a ceasefire against Iran in 2011 and largely maintained it.
Meanwhile, Iran appears to have targeted Iranian Kurdish groups in Iraq.
A senior figure in the Iranian Kurdish opposition told Alhurra that the headquarters of four Iranian Kurdish parties in Iraq's semi-autonomus Kurdistan region were targeted by Iranian drones on Sunday evening.
Khalil Nadri, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), told Alhurra that the attacks struck PAK positions located between Erbil and Duhok, as well as the Komala party headquarters in the Zargwez area of Sulaymaniyah province.
Additional drone strikes targeted camps belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) in the Zwi Spi and Azadi areas of Koya district, along with a KDPI headquarters in the Dikla area of Erbil province.
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