Joseph Trevithick, The Warzone/The Drive: How the Kurdish Independence Referendum Could Spark a Civil War or Worse
The vote on whether Iraqi Kurdistan should be independent will have far reaching impacts no matter the outcome.
Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region has finished voting on a controversial referendum that could potentially lead to a new independent country. It is a goal that Kurds around the world have long pushed for, but it potentially touch off a broader conflict involving Iran, Turkey, and Syria, as well as test loyalties and allegiances between the Kurds and dozens of nations and ethnic groups throughout the Middle East and beyond.
On June 7, 2017, President Masoud Barzani, the present head of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), met with various parties and formally announced the date for the non-binding poll as Sept. 25, 2017. Barzani, who has been president of the KRG since 2005, had initially called for the vote in 2014, following the meteoric rise of ISIS in Iraq following the spectacular collapse of the Iraq’s national army in the face of the terrorist group, but delayed it due to apparent international pressure. With ISIS in retreat and the situation stabilizing, it has been harder to argue for further delays.
Read more ....
Update: Kirkuk teetering on the brink of war (Fazel Hawramy)
WNU Editor: Iraq does not have the military capability on taking on the Kurds .... so I doubt that such a military undertaking will be pursued by Baghdad. Turkey and Iran do have the military capability .... but invading Iraqi Kurdistan (even with Baghdad's approval) .... all that I can say is "talk about walking into a hornet's nest". My prediction .... Iraqi Kurdistan is landlocked .... if they push forward with their goal of independence they will be cut-off from the rest of the world by Turkey-Iran-Iraq. It is not a military conflict, but it will cripple the Iraqi-Kurdistan economy. But if there is going to be bloodshed, it will be in the territories that Kurdish forces are present and where the majority of the civilians are Arab or Turk-men .... Kirkuk is such a place. That type of conflict may be local .... but it will carry international consequences. If Iraq explodes into another civil war, it will start in a place like Kirkuk.
4 comments:
Will the USA back them up?
The increase in the percentage of Arabs in Kirkuk is due to ethnic cleansing by Saddam.
You would think the US would advise them to take it slowly, maybe let the major armies disengage after ISIS has been dispatched. As is, there are some big adversaries on every front with real itchy trigger fingers right now, first and foremost Turkey. Powder keg special right here!
The Turks and others will not disengage, so a go slow approach will just get the Kurds killed or subjugated.
The chauvinism of the Turks and others is typified by calling the Kurds, Mountain Turks.
Post a Comment