Iraqi Kurdistan is interesting.
Since the Kuwait war, when Saddam attacked the Kurds with chemicla weapons and the U.S. imposed a no fly zone over Iraqi Kurdistan, Saddam basically cut the off from the central government, hoping to starve them slowly by cutting off funding for roads, schools, electricity, gas, everything.
Instead, this served to give them de facto independence. They began generating their own electricity, selling oil across the border to the Turks, running their own government, all without any help or reliance on Baghdad.
After the 2003 invasion, Kurdistans regional government and power structure stayed largely intact. Kurdistan was basically at peace throughout all the bloodshed in Iraq.
Now they are expanding their borders, they ha e taken Kirkuk, an oil rich city that was previously much more Kurdish and was partially ethnically cleansed by Saddam's Arabization program, to dillute Kurdish power in the city.
As the rest of Iraq burns, Kurdistan continues to develop more independent economic ties with Turkey and Turkish companies, selling oil directly to them. It seems like this is as good a time as any for them to become an independent and relatively successful state.
I know some forum bros have been in Kurdistan. Its not exactly fun by Western standards, It seems. I would love to hear about peoples experiences on the ground there.
It seems like dreams of a politically united Greater Kurdistan, with territory from Turkey, Syria, and Iran, is a pipe dream, and if the Kurds want a country, they will have to just accept Iraqi Kurdistan.
Since the Kuwait war, when Saddam attacked the Kurds with chemicla weapons and the U.S. imposed a no fly zone over Iraqi Kurdistan, Saddam basically cut the off from the central government, hoping to starve them slowly by cutting off funding for roads, schools, electricity, gas, everything.
Instead, this served to give them de facto independence. They began generating their own electricity, selling oil across the border to the Turks, running their own government, all without any help or reliance on Baghdad.
After the 2003 invasion, Kurdistans regional government and power structure stayed largely intact. Kurdistan was basically at peace throughout all the bloodshed in Iraq.
Now they are expanding their borders, they ha e taken Kirkuk, an oil rich city that was previously much more Kurdish and was partially ethnically cleansed by Saddam's Arabization program, to dillute Kurdish power in the city.
As the rest of Iraq burns, Kurdistan continues to develop more independent economic ties with Turkey and Turkish companies, selling oil directly to them. It seems like this is as good a time as any for them to become an independent and relatively successful state.
I know some forum bros have been in Kurdistan. Its not exactly fun by Western standards, It seems. I would love to hear about peoples experiences on the ground there.
It seems like dreams of a politically united Greater Kurdistan, with territory from Turkey, Syria, and Iran, is a pipe dream, and if the Kurds want a country, they will have to just accept Iraqi Kurdistan.