Advances by Sunni Extremists Bring Kurdish Groups Together by Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
One unanticipated result of the military advances by Sunni Muslim extremists in northern Iraq has been the formation of a unified opposition front composed of oft-divided Kurdish factions from three nations—Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
Last week, Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, paid a visit to fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK; an unusual event since relations between the PKK and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan have long been strained. The visit came after PKK guerrillas joined with Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces to oust Islamic State militants from the town of Makhmour, southwest of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
During his trip to Makhmour, where the secular, leftist PKK has a heavily defended camp, Barzani hailed PKK members as “brothers,” according to a video clip circulated online. He also denounced Islamic State a common enemy of the Kurdish people…