Iraqi Kurdistan: A State within a State

Abstract

On 29 October 2017, the President of the Kurdistan Region, Massoud
Barzani, addressed a letter of resignation to the Kurdish Parliament. Despite
his resignation, Barzani remains the interlocutor of Baghdad, the countries
of the region and above all the international community. Moreover, since the
outbreak of the protest movement on 1 October 2019 and the « discord » in
Iraq between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran in January
2020, the great powers have turned to Erbil and Barzani, by relatively
deserting Baghdad. In this context, Iraqi Kurdistan once again becomes an
indispensable partner not only for the United States, European countries,
China and Russia, but also for Iran, Turkey and the Gulf countries. With a
fully autonomous system, the Kurdistan Regional Government operates as
a state within a state and not as a federated entity within a sovereign state.