A few weeks before the devastating Dec. 10 twin bombings in Istanbul — for which Kurdish militants claimed responsibility — Al-Monitor spoke with several sources well-connected with Ankara about how Turkey might address Iran's intensified logistics support to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

For the past couple of months, different media outlets in Turkey and the region have been reporting that representatives of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, led by Gen. Qasem Soleimani, have held several meetings with senior PKK members in Baghdad and in Halabja and Rania in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a PKK offshoot, claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed 38 people and wounded 155.

Long gone are the days when Turkey and Iran cooperated against Kurdish guerrillas. Though today Kurdish groups make headlines about their internal divisions and feuds, they are still able to influence the behavior and decisions of both Iran and Turkey. Whether the two countries manage to keep their proxy war over northern Syria and Iraq contained or whether it could lead to direct confrontation between them remains to be seen. For now, Ankara has to face the immediate consequences of its ill-conceived policies in Syria and Iraq.

Turkey’s battle against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the PKK has indeed changed the balance in the region. The PKK has become a crucial combat force (for organizing, as well as training units) for several groups in northern Syria and Iraq that have been trying to survive against the Islamic State (IS) and its offshoots. Indeed, the former Yazidi capital of Sinjar, Iraq, has become the new headquarters for the PKK, despite several statements from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would not allow it. The PKK’s overall influence in Iraq has expanded significantly over the past couple of years.