DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Is the Kurds’ unity in danger in Iraqi Kurdistan, the autonomous region they managed to build after decades of grueling struggle? Fears of an internal rift have grown over a demand for enhanced self-governance powers by the province of Sulaimaniyah, hot on the heels of tensions between Kurdistan’s two main political parties over the control of a strategic area in the region.

There are fears that the move could have wider implications for the regional government's dealings with the central government in Baghdad, with some Kurdish politicians warning it could threaten the region's semi-autonomous status.

The Sulaimaniyah Provincial Council, dominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Gorran movement, set up a committee April 30 to work on a council decision to seek financial and administrative decentralization for the province. In other words, the Kurdish government in Erbil, led by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is under pressure to transfer some of its powers to the local authorities in Sulaimaniyah. 

The move came atop a dispute over who controls Zini Werte, a key mountainous route also claimed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Kurdish-Turkish militants based in the nearby Qandil mountains and pursued by Turkey. The standoff has fueled concerns of a fresh conflict between the KDP and the PUK, whose historical rivalry has led to bloody clashes in the past.