614 Chapter 5
Date(s): March 2, 1986
Participants: 630 Iran/640 Turkey
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Iranian helicopter gunships attacked a Turkish oil tanker in the Persian
Gulf northeast of the Qatar peninsula.
MID#2566
Dispute Number: 2566
Date(s): August 27, 1986
Participants: 630 Iran/640 Turkey
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Turkey and Iraq had a 1984 arrangement in which they had agreed to
allow both military forces to maintain a joint security zone along each side of the
border area between the two countries. In early August 1984, 10 Turkish warplanes
crossed into Iraq and bombed Kurdish hideouts in retaliation for a Kurdish attack
several days before that killed 12 Turkish soldiers. Iraq was informed of the Turkish
air raid prior to its happening.
On August 27, the Turkish foreign minister visited Teheran. The Iranian govern-
ment expressed concern over the Turkish air raid and warned Turkey to stay neutral
in the war between Iran and Iraq. Turkey, in turn, warned the Iranian government that
if it was able to oust the Hussein government in Iraq that it would be forced to seize
the oil fields in northern Iraq, and that it could not tolerate an Iranian satellite state
manipulating the movements of the rebellious Kurds along Turkey’s border.
MID#2799
Dispute Number: 2799
Date(s): June 1987 to March 27, 1988
Participants: 630 Iran/640 Turkey
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: 1–25 deaths
Narrative: This dispute describes several clashes between Turkish and Iranian forces
during the Iran-Iraq War. In June 1987, a Turkish citizen was killed by the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard when they crossed the border pursuing Kurdish rebels. On
August 23, 95 Iranian Revolutionary Guards were arrested in Hakkari Province, Tur-
key. Finally, an Iranian aircraft bombed a transit point at Habur, Turkey, on March
27 the following year.
MID#4191
Dispute Number: 4191
Date(s): June 26, 1996
Participants: 640 Turkey/630 Iran