Iraq crisis has stopped escalation of US-Turkey tension

We do not yet know whether U.S. President Donald Trump's Sept. 21 message - in which he said he had "become close friends" with President Tayyip Erdoğan and relations between the two countries were "at their best level ever" - really is good news for those hoping for an improvement in Turkish-American relations. We will have to wait and see any practical results of those nice words, but at least they are bad news for those who want an escalation of tension between the NATO allies. The biggest outcome of Erdoğan's contacts in New York, where he had traveled for the U.N. General Assembly, was a halt in the escalation of tensions between Turkey and the U.S.

It seems that the crisis in Iraq over Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani's push for an independence referendum on Sept. 25 has given all parties a chance to agree on something. This is not only valid for Turkey and the U.S. After all, the Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian foreign ministers had a meeting in New York and announced a mutual consulting mechanism in order to present a joint reaction against the possibility of an independent Kurdish state. They are all concerned that while the KRG may claim territories from Iraq today, it may claim land from Turkey, Iran and Syria tomorrow. 

Russia, meanwhile, has reiterated its position in favor of the territorial integrity of Iraq. As the biggest supporter of the Syrian government, Moscow is not likely to approve the division of its territory. 

So it seems that Israel is the only country to express support for a Kurdish state separating from Iraq. And there is no reason to think that it would not support a similar move in Syria, which could further weaken that country's central government. 

We understand from Erdoğan...