Kurdish Government Threatens to Sue Iraq Over Oil Exports—May Be Moving Forward on Independent State

Iraq has lost metaphorical and real ground in its
ongoing dispute with the Kurdish regional government over oil
exports—the first
thing I wrote about here more than two years ago. Back then
Iraq’s central government was busy trying to coerce foreign oil
companies into not making lucrative deals with the stable
government in Arbil. And now, as Reuters
explains:

Baghdad has cut the KRG’s budget since January over the dispute,
arguing the sales are illegal, and has repeatedly threatened to sue
any firm that buys oil from the autonomous region.

But since the KRG took control of the northern oil hub of Kirkuk
amid the retreat of the Iraqi military from the Islamic State-led
insurgency, the autonomous region has been emboldened.

On Thursday, the president of Iraq’s Kurdish north asked the
region’s parliament to prepare the way for a referendum on its
long-saught goal of independence.

The Kurdish people have never had an independent country of
their own. Turkey, which also has a geographically contiguous area
populated by Kurds, has long opposed the creation of a Kurdish
state—quelling rebellions at home and fearing an independent state
carved out of Iraq would make it harder for them to manage their
Kurdish majority. Apparently no more. A spokesperson for Turkey’s
ruling party said earlier
this week the country was ready to welcome an independent
Kurdish state. Turkey, fore one, appears to be choosing stability
over sectarianism.