Iraq -Turkey relation after 2003

Abstract

For years, fears about Kurdish separatism and ambiguity toward the
regime of Saddam Hussein and its successors defined Turkey’s
relationship with Iraq. Nonetheless, after the 1991 Gulf war,Turkey
allowed U.S. and British planes flying from In cirlik Air Base in southeast
Turkey to enforce a no-fly zone over northern Iraq (Operation Provide
Comfort/Operation Northern Watch) in order to protect Iraq’s Kurds from
Saddam Hussein and to monitor Iraq’s armed forces.
This protective shield enabled an autonomous Iraqi Kurdish
administration to develop despite Turkish unease about its potential as a
role model for Turkish Kurds. Turkish leaders later expressed doubts about
U.S. regime change plans for Iraq before the 2003 invasion and, on March
1, 2003, the Turkish parliament refused to authorize the deployment of
U.S. forces to Turkey for the purpose of opening a northern front against
Iraq.