Kurdistan Region

A promise that was dropped

Kurdistan, the land of the Kurds, has never been one country. It spreads across eastern Türkiye, northern Iraq, western Iran and parts of Syria and Armenia.^[4] The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 offered the Kurds an autonomous Kurdistan, but it was never ratified, and the Treaty of Lausanne that replaced it in 1923 left Kurdistan out. In 1925 the League of Nations gave the Mosul province, where many Kurds lived, to Iraq.^[4]

Under British rule and then Iraqi governments, Kurdish leaders rose in rebellion again and again, and were put down.^[2] Iraq set up a Kurdish autonomous region in 1974, which gave some self-government.^[4] In the late 1980s Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign deliberately targeted civilians, including with chemical weapons, most notoriously at Halabja in 1988, where thousands were killed.^[2]

Self-rule under a no-fly zone

After the Gulf War in 1991, the coalition against Saddam set up a partial no-fly zone over northern Iraq. Iraqi forces withdrew, and Kurdish leaders and their Peshmerga forces took charge of the north.^[2] The two main parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, fought a civil war in 1994–97 that nearly destroyed the new government.^[2]

Iraq’s 2005 constitution recognised the region of Kurdistan and its existing authorities as a federal region, and kept the laws it had passed since 1992.^[1] Kurdish is one of Iraq’s two official languages alongside Arabic.^[1] A region can pass its own constitution and can adjust how national law applies within it, except in matters reserved to the federal government.^[1]

“This Constitution, upon coming into force, shall recognize the region of Kurdistan, along with its existing authorities, as a federal region.”^[1]

Kirkuk and the disputed territories

The region is also in dispute with Baghdad over several areas outside it, above all the city of Kirkuk.^[2] The constitution called for a census and a referendum in Kirkuk and the other disputed territories by the end of 2007.^[1] Oil is another fault line: the constitution says oil and gas belong to all Iraqis and are to be managed by the federal government together with the producing regions.^[1]

When the Islamic State group swept across northern Iraq in 2014, Kurdish forces became a leading force against it and took control of more land and oil than ever before.^[4][2]

The 2017 referendum and after

On 25 September 2017 the region held a non-binding referendum on independence, also in some disputed areas including Kirkuk. The election commission said 92.73% of the 3,305,925 people who voted said yes.^[3] Baghdad reacted angrily.^[2] Iraqi forces recaptured territory the Kurds held outside the region, took over oilfields and imposed a six-month air blockade.^[2][4] The region’s president, Masoud Barzani, stepped down in November 2017.^[2]

Oil exports kept the quarrel going. In March 2023 an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration ordered Türkiye to pay Iraq $1.5 billion over exports the Kurdish authorities had made without Baghdad, and the pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan stopped.^[5] It reopened on 27 September 2025 under a deal between Baghdad, the regional government and foreign oil companies, with Iraq’s state oil marketer handling the sales.^[5]