Skip to main content

Gambling With Kurdistan And Checking Baghdad

Baghdad's deployment of troops to Iraq’s disputed territories has renewed concerns about armed conflict between the central government and the Kurdistan region, writes Denise Natali.
Kurdish Peshmerga troops are deployed on the outskirts of Kirkuk, some 250km (155 miles) north of Baghdad December 3, 2012. Iraq's Kurdish region has sent reinforcements to a disputed area where its troops are involved in a standoff with the Iraqi army, a senior Kurdish military official said, despite calls on both sides for dialogue to calm the situation. Picture taken December 3, 2012. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s deployment of special Tigris Forces to Iraq’s disputed territories has renewed concerns about armed conflict between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). For many, Maliki’s actions have violated the constitution, provoked Erbil and further threatened Iraqi state stability.

Yet, the source of the problem is not entirely in Baghdad. Since 2003, KRG officials have engaged in what Arab Iraqis consider as their own “Illegal, unconstitutional and provocative” actions: unilaterally moving the Kurdish militia (Peshmerga) into disputed lands, signing oil contracts in contentious areas and bringing the Kurdish north into regional power struggles. These actions may have currently checked central-government power in the territories, but they also have left the KRG internally divided, without allies in Baghdad and increasingly dependent upon Ankara for its economic and political future. 

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.