Iraqi Kurdistan’s Referendum at 2017: Motives – Implications

In September 2017, Iraq’s Kurdish community held a vote on seceding from the Iraqi state. It was decided to hold the referendum after Kurdish lawmakers admitted that they had more than one reason for pushing for it. The referendum’s implementation and achievement of its intended goals were hampered by numerous obstacles at the local, regional, and international levels. Despite a substantial majority of participants voting in favor of separation from Iraq, the consequences for Iraq’s stability and the security of the Kurdistan Region, as well as the reactions that would follow, would not have been favorable to the Kurdish people. Alternatively, it set this project back many years, by causing the Kurdistan Region to incur significant losses in its relationship with the Iraqi state, its regional neighbors, and international parties. This referendum also contributed to the exacerbation of the region’s political and economic crises. Accordingly, the Kurdistan Regional Government attempted to change its previous strategy with both the federal government in Baghdad and a number of neighboring countries to address and contain the crisis.