Publication

This paper sheds light on the developing crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan following the September 2017 referendum on Kurdish independence. The author specifically examines 1) the struggle between state leaders’ desire for power and calls for self-rule at the grassroots level; 2) Tehran, Ankara, and a reluctant Baghdad’s attempt to exploit the referendum in an effort to consolidate their regional aspirations; 3) the failure of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)-affiliated young leaders to avoid a vicious fratricidal fight for personal gains and power within the ranks of the PUK’s fractured leadership, and more.