Fighting Falcons over northern Iraq: a Kurdish perspective on F-16 fighters and regional security

Abstract

America plans to sell F-16 fighters to Iraq’s central government in Baghdad, a step that evokes existential fears amongst many of the country’s Kurds who live in the autonomous Kurdistan region given the integral part the jets of Saddam’s air force played in the genocide against the Kurdish minority during the 1980s. The F-16s would indeed shift the currently relatively stable balance of power in favour of the central government especially in the light of the ongoing quarrels between the Kurds and Baghdad over oil and territory. Inspired by conversations with Kurdish officials and military, this observation points out that there already are F-16s in the Iraqi skies, Turkish ones who operate against the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). However, it should be remembered that with their geopolitically important multimillion dollar investments in Kurdistan, Turkey is interested in a strong Kurdish region. Thus, the armament of Baghdad could possibly result in an ever deepening Kurdish–Turkish relationship beyond economy. Jets that were used against one Kurdish group, the PKK, could indeed become a symbol of military patronage for the autonomous Kurdistan region.