Abstract: Since September 25, 2017, when the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) held its referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan region and the disputed areas, the world had been waiting for a federal government response intended at preserving a unified Iraq. However, the Iraqi government has also been calling on the KRG to repeal the referendum results and enter into a dialogue on a constitutional basis. The KRG has not complied with Baghdad’s demands. Therefore, Haider al-Abadi, the Prime Minister of Iraq, ordered federal forces to execute an operation in Kirkuk, which took place on October 17, 2017. In this context, two issues must be addressed properly by the Iraqi government to avoid potentially devastating outcomes that may affect regional security. These issues are the battle against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), and the secession of Kurdistan. Still, one other issue has often been raised by politicians and experts: the worrisome role of non-state actors in Iraq’s political and security spheres. This paper aims to identify the dynamics that are steering events in Kirkuk, to address the extents to which the Iraqi prime minister will be willing to fulfill his constitutional duties, and to discuss the prospect of dialogue between the federal government and the KRG.
About the Author:
Elaaf Hadi is a First Secretary at the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was posted to Rome during the period 2009–2013. He obtained his PhD in political theory from Luiss Guido Carli in November 2016. He graduated with Magna Cum Laude in his Master’s in Strategic Studies at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad. His PhD thesis is entitled The Impact of Neo American Orientalism on the Future of the Nation State in Iraq in the Light of the ISIS Crisis. He has been the head of Iraq’s Political Planning and Research Section since May 2017.