Tag Archives: Kurdistan

From Catalonia to Kurdistan, long simmering regions are clamoring for their own states. But what good is being a state anymore?

Turkey’s reaction to Kurdish independence from Iraq will not be a military intervention at least for now and it should not be, says one Turkish analyst.

Turkey's game of playing all sides in the balance of power game is difficult to sustain. The downing by Turkey of a Russian jet conducting air strikes over northern Syria is just the first move in the new phase of this game, and analysts should probably start looking at ISIS oil sales to Turkey in their examinations of why Turkey downed a Russian jet at a time when the Russians were specifically targeting ISIS-controlled oil facilities and tankers.

The massive resources available in the Eastern Mediterranean offer the prospect of employment and stability. The pursuit of common interests could unlock enormous untapped potential in the region.

Taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the flight of the Iraqi security forces from Mosul and its environs, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has sent its peshmerga fighters into large swathes of northern Iraq, most notably Kirkuk and its oilfields. These gains have given the KRG new forms of leverage with Baghdad in negotiating Kurdish nationalist demands. They also have triggered expectations of Kurdish statehood among the Kurdish population of Iraq, a long-sought goal that could be bankrolled by large-scale, independent Kurdish oil exports.