ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday praised the stance of neutrality taken by the Kurdistan Region’s leaders on the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Leaders in the Kurdistan Region have maintained a neutral position as their long-time allies in the US and neighboring Iran are entrenched in a bloody war. 

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan said: "We welcome the statements made by our brothers in the Iraqi Kurdish region and wholeheartedly believe that they will not fall for this plot." 

Reports emerged from Western and Israeli media outlets earlier in March that Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in the Kurdistan Region were set to launch a ground offensive into Iran. The rumors were promptly denied as false by the Kurdistan Region's leaders. 

US President Donald Trump reportedly contacted both President Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani after the start of a US-Israeli aggression that started in late February. 

Kurdish leaders have also maintained contact with Iranian officials, particularly Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The Kurdish leaders have maintained an uncompromising policy of neutrality in the war.

But the Kurdistan Region has been repeatedly targeted during the war, both by Iran and its Shiite proxy militias. The attacks have caused casualties and dealt damage to the Region’s infrastructure. 

Despite the attacks, the Kurdistan Region has insisted that it has no part to play in the war and has repeatedly called for attacks on its territory to stop.