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2017 Iraqi Kurdistan’s Referendum for Independence: Causes and Impacts

Received: 19 December 2017    Accepted: 20 January 2018    Published: 13 June 2018
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Abstract

On 20 November 2017, Iraqi Supreme Court has declared illegal the Iraqi Kurdistan referendum. This seems to put an end to the disagreement between Baghdad and Erbil and the long struggle of Iraqi Kurds to independence. The Kurdish issue has long haunted the Middle East, and the efforts of the Kurds to have a nation of their own have had a profound impact on the political landscape of the Middle East region. On September 25, 2017, the Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Region held a referendum to decide whether to be independent or not. The results were opposed by the international community, especially by the neighboring countries of Iraq. This is mainly due to the fear of spillover effects on their own populations and the impact on the Middle East. This paper analyzes the causes and the consequences of the independence referendum on Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Region relations with Iraq’s central government, geopolitics in the Middle East and anti-terrorism war.

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.hss.20180602.13
Page(s) 59-67
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Iraq, Kurds, Independence Referendum, Middle East

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Zhao Changfeng, Otenia Temitayo. (2018). 2017 Iraqi Kurdistan’s Referendum for Independence: Causes and Impacts. Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(2), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20180602.13

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    ACS Style

    Zhao Changfeng; Otenia Temitayo. 2017 Iraqi Kurdistan’s Referendum for Independence: Causes and Impacts. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2018, 6(2), 59-67. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20180602.13

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    AMA Style

    Zhao Changfeng, Otenia Temitayo. 2017 Iraqi Kurdistan’s Referendum for Independence: Causes and Impacts. Humanit Soc Sci. 2018;6(2):59-67. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20180602.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hss.20180602.13,
      author = {Zhao Changfeng and Otenia Temitayo},
      title = {2017 Iraqi Kurdistan’s Referendum for Independence: Causes and Impacts},
      journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {59-67},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20180602.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20180602.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20180602.13},
      abstract = {On 20 November 2017, Iraqi Supreme Court has declared illegal the Iraqi Kurdistan referendum. This seems to put an end to the disagreement between Baghdad and Erbil and the long struggle of Iraqi Kurds to independence. The Kurdish issue has long haunted the Middle East, and the efforts of the Kurds to have a nation of their own have had a profound impact on the political landscape of the Middle East region. On September 25, 2017, the Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Region held a referendum to decide whether to be independent or not. The results were opposed by the international community, especially by the neighboring countries of Iraq. This is mainly due to the fear of spillover effects on their own populations and the impact on the Middle East. This paper analyzes the causes and the consequences of the independence referendum on Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Region relations with Iraq’s central government, geopolitics in the Middle East and anti-terrorism war.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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    AB  - On 20 November 2017, Iraqi Supreme Court has declared illegal the Iraqi Kurdistan referendum. This seems to put an end to the disagreement between Baghdad and Erbil and the long struggle of Iraqi Kurds to independence. The Kurdish issue has long haunted the Middle East, and the efforts of the Kurds to have a nation of their own have had a profound impact on the political landscape of the Middle East region. On September 25, 2017, the Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Region held a referendum to decide whether to be independent or not. The results were opposed by the international community, especially by the neighboring countries of Iraq. This is mainly due to the fear of spillover effects on their own populations and the impact on the Middle East. This paper analyzes the causes and the consequences of the independence referendum on Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Region relations with Iraq’s central government, geopolitics in the Middle East and anti-terrorism war.
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Author Information
  • School of Political Science and International Studies, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, P. R. China

  • School of Political Science and International Studies, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, P. R. China

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