The Kurds in Post-Saddam Iraq
Kenneth Katzman
Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
April 6, 2009
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RS22079
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress
The Kurds in Post-Saddam Iraq
Summary
The Kurdish-inhabited region of northern Iraq has been relatively peaceful and prosperous since
the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, the Iraqi Kurds’ political autonomy, demands, and
ambitions have caused friction with Christian and other minorities in the north, with Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Arab leaders of Iraq, and with neighboring Turkey and Iran.
These outstanding issues between the Kurds and the central government do not appear close to
resolution, and tensions—which are likely to increase now that Kurdish representation in two key
mixed provinces has been reduced by the January 31, 2009 provincial elections—threaten to
undermine the stability achieved throughout Iraq in 2008.
The Kurds face further political setbacks in 2010 because a senior Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani,
said he would not be available to continue as president of Iraq after the next national elections
expected at the end of 2009. It is likely that Sunni Arabs will push for one of their own to take
that position.
It is likely to require U.S. political influence over the Kurds to prevent a near term de-stabilizing
escalation of these disputes. However, the U.S. ability to keep these tensions contained could
wane as U.S. combat forces draw down from Iraq by August 2010. This report will be updated.
Also see CRS Report RL31339, Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security, by Kenneth
Katzman.
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Contents
Pre-War Background................................................................................................................... 1
Post-Saddam Period/The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)............................................... 2
Upcoming KRG Elections............................................................................................... 3
Current Major Issues ................................................................................................................... 4
Participation in the Central Government ................................................................................ 4
Political Orientation of the Kurds .................................................................................... 5
The Independence Question .................................................................................................. 5
Kirkuk, Disputed Territories, and Minorities in the North ...................................................... 5
The North, Kirkuk, and the January 31, 2009 Provincial Elections................................... 6
Implications of the Provincial Election Results................................................................ 7
Control Over Oil Resources/Oil Laws ................................................................................... 7
KRG Revenue Distribution Issues ................................................................................... 8
PKK and Other Kurdish Militant Safehaven .......................................................................... 8
Figures
Figure 1. Kurdish Areas .............................................................................................................. 9
Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 10
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Pre-War Background
The Kurds, a mountain-dwelling Indo-European people, comprise the fourth largest ethnic group
in the Middle East, but they have never obtained statehood. The World War I peace settlement
raised hopes of Kurdish independence, but under a subsequent treaty they were given minority
status in their respective countries—Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria—with smaller enclaves
elsewhere in the region. (See dark gray area of map.) Kurds now number between 20 and 25
million, with an estimated 4 to 4.5 million in Iraq, roughly 15 to 20 percent of the Iraqi
population. Most are Sunni Muslims and their language is akin to Persian; Kurds celebrate the
Persian new year (Nowruz) each March 21. Even before the fall of Saddam Hussein, Kurds have
had more national rights in Iraq than in any other host country; prior Iraqi governments have
allowed some Kurdish language use in elementary education (1931), recognized a Kurdish
nationality (1958), and implemented limited Kurdish autonomy (1974, with Iraq under Baath
Party rule).
For the three decades that preceded the U.S.-led expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991,
an intermittent insurgency by Iraqi Kurdish militia (“peshmerga”) faced increasing suppression,
particularly by Saddam Hussein’s regime. Kurdish dissidence in Iraq was initially led by the
Barzani clan, headed by the late storied chieftain Mulla Mustafa Barzani, who founded the
Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) after World War II. He rejected Baghdad’s Kurdish autonomy
plan in 1974,1 but his renewed revolt collapsed in 1975 when Iran, then led by the Shah, stopped
supporting it under a U.S.-supported “Algiers Accord” with Iraq. Barzani, granted asylum in the
United States, died in 1979, and KDP leadership passed to his son, Masoud.
Years earlier, a younger, more urban and left-leaning group under Jalal Talabani emerged; it broke
with Barzani in 1964 and, in 1975, became the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The
KDP and the PUK remain dominant among Iraqi Kurds; their differences have centered on
leadership, control over revenue, and the degree to which to accommodate Baghdad. The KDP,
generally traditional, is strong in the tribal, mountainous northern Kurdish areas, bordering
Turkey, whereas the PUK is strong in southern Kurdish areas, bordering Iran.
During the first few years of the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war, the Iraqi government tried to
accommodate the Kurds in order to persuade them not to assist Tehran. In 1984, the PUK agreed
to cease fighting Baghdad, but the KDP remained in rebellion. Iraqi forces launched at least two
lethal gas attacks against Kurdish targets in 1988, including at the town of Halabja (March 16,
1988, about 5,000 killed). Iraq claimed the chemical attacks were responses to Iranian incursions.
During 1987-1989, the height of the Iran-Iraq war and its immediate aftermath, Iraq tried to set up
a “cordon sanitaire” along the border with Iran, and it reportedly forced Kurds in many border
villages to leave their homes in a so-called “Anfal (Spoils) campaign.” Some organizations,
including Human Rights Watch, say the campaign killed as many as 100,000 Kurds.
During the 1990s, U.S.-led containment of Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait paved the way
for substantial Kurdish autonomy. After Iraqi forces suppressed an initial post-war Kurdish
uprising, U.S. and allied forces in mid-1991 instituted a “no-fly zone” over the Kurdish areas,
1 The government’s so-called Law of Self-Rule (No. 33 of 1974) provided for limited governing institutions in some
Kurdish regions but failed to garner widespread Kurdish support.
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protecting the Kurds from Iraqi forces. Later in 1991, Kurdish leaders joined the Iraqi National
Congress (INC), a U.S.-backed opposition group, and allowed it to operate from Iraqi Kurdish
territory. The Iraqi Kurds set up an administration in their enclave and held elections for a 105-
member provisional parliament in 1992. The KDP and the PUK each gained 50 seats; another five
went to Christian groups (most of Iraq’s 900,000 person Christian community resides in northern
Iraq or in Baghdad). Without a clear winner in the concurrent presidential election, the two main
factions agreed to joint rule. In October 1992, the Kurdish parliament called for “the creation of a
Federated State of Kurdistan in the liberated part of the country” but added that the Kurds
remained committed to Iraq’s territorial integrity. This caveat did not allay fears among Iraq’s
Arab leaders that the Kurds would drive for full independence; a concern shared by neighboring
states with large Kurdish populations (Turkey, Iran, and Syria).
In early 1994, the uneasy KDP-PUK power-sharing collapsed into armed clashes over territorial
control and joint revenues. The nadir in PUK-KDP relations occurred in mid-1996, when the
KDP enlisted Saddam’s regime to help it seize Irbil, the seat of the regional Kurdish government,
which the PUK had captured in 1994. The Kurdish regional authority effectively split into KDP
and PUK entities. However, the United States spearheaded negotiations that culminated in a
September 1998 “Washington Declaration” between the two parties. It was endorsed when the
Kurdish parliament reconvened on October 5, 2002, by which time the Kurds and other
oppositionists were preparing for a likely U.S. war to overthrow Saddam Hussein. In February
2003, opposition groups met in Kurdish-controlled territory to prepare for post-Saddam Iraq, but
these groups were disappointed by a U.S. decision to set up a post-Saddam occupation authority
rather than immediately turn over governance to Iraqis. Some Bush Administration officials have
attributed the post-Saddam insurgency and instability to this decision.
Post-Saddam Period/The Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG)
There was virtually no combat in northern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the U.S.-
led war that began on March 19, 2003 and toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime by April 9, 2003.
Turkey did not agree to host U.S. invasion forces prior to the start of the war, and U.S. forces
moved up from Kuwait through southern Iraq, and not down from the north.
The Kurds entered post-Saddam national politics on an equal footing with Iraq’s Arabs for the
first time ever by participating in a U.S.-led occupation administration (Coalition Provisional
Authority, CPA). Holding seats on a 25-person advisory “Iraq Governing Council (IGC),”
appointed in July 2003, were Barzani, Talabani, and three independent Kurds. In the transition
government that assumed sovereignty on June 28, 2004, a top Barzani aide, Hoshyar Zebari,
became Foreign Minister (over the objection of many Arab Iraqi figures).
This government operated under a March 8, 2004 “Transitional Administrative Law” (TAL)—a
provisional constitution that laid out a political transition process and preserved the Kurds’s
autonomous “Kurdistan Regional Government” (KRG) and its power to alter the application of
some national laws. Another TAL provision allowed the Kurds to continue to field their militia,
the peshmerga (“those who face death”), now numbering 75,000-110,000, according to observers.
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The TAL did not give the Kurds control of Kirkuk (Tamim province),2 instead setting up a
process to allow Kurds expelled from Kirkuk by Saddam to reclaim their homes. Despite
opposition from Iraq’s Arab leaders, the Kurds succeeded in inserting a provision into the TAL
that allowed any three provinces to vote down, by a two-thirds majority, a permanent constitution.
The Kurds constitute a majority in Dohuk, Irbil, and Sulaymaniyah provinces, assuring them of
veto power. The Kurds supported the constitution in the October 15, 2005 referendum because the
constitution, as discussed below, met most of their most significant demands.
The constitution3 not only retained substantial Kurdish autonomy but also included the Kurds
insistence on “federalism”—de-facto or formal creation of “regions,” each with its own regional
government. The constitution recognizes the three Kurdish provinces of Dohuk, Irbil, and
Sulaymaniyah as a legal “region” (Article 113)—the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)—
with the power to amend the application of national laws not specifically under national
government purview; to maintain internal security forces; and to establish embassies abroad
(Article 117). Arabic and Kurdish are official languages (Article 4). In September 2007, the
Senate endorsed the federalism concept for Iraq in an amendment to the FY2008 defense
authorization bill (P.L. 110-181).
The Kurdish region fully participated in the Iraqi elections in 2005—including the provincial
elections and for the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA) held, along with Iraqi national
elections (for an interim government), on January 30, 2005. As noted below, the Kurdish
provinces did not participate in provincial elections in January 2009. After the KNA elections, on
June 12, 2005, the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA, the separate parliament of the Kurdistan
Regional Government) named Barzani “President of Kurdistan.” This reflected Barzani’s strategy
of shoring up his regional base in the north rather than focusing on central government politics.
The “prime minister” of the KRG is Masoud’s 50 year old nephew, Nechirvan (son of the Kurdish
guerrilla commander Idris, who was killed in battle against Iraqi forces in 1987). Nechrivan was
slated to be replaced in early 2008 by a PUK official (Kosrat Rasoul), but the parties agreed to
extend Nechirvan’s term—in part because of Rasoul’s health. Nechirvan remains in that position,
in part because turmoil within the PUK—several top leaders resigned in March 2009—has
hindered the PUK’s ability to reach consensus on a PUK replacement for Nechirvan.
The peshmerga primarily remain in Kurdish areas to protect Kurdish inhabitants there, but some
have joined the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and have served mostly in Arab northern cities such as
Mosul and Tal Affar but also in Sunni areas, in the Baghdad “troop surge,” and in the March 2008
crackdown on Shiite militias in Basra. On May 30, 2007, formal security control over the three
KRG provinces were handed from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq to mostly Kurdish ISF units.
Upcoming KRG Elections
The KRG is scheduled to hold its own elections in mid-2009. May 19, 2009 has been mentioned
as a possible date for new elections for the Kurdistan National Assembly, that will then determine
a KRG leadership team and a Kurdistan President. Many believe it is likely that these elections
will result in Masoud Barzani’s continuation in that role. However, observers say that procedures
2 The text of the TAL can be obtained from the CPA website: http://cpa-iraq.org/government/TAL.html.
3 The text of the constitution is at http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/ar2005101201450.htm.
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are not in place and that the elections might go until July 2009. At some point, there are also
expected to be elections on a KRG regional constitution.
Current Major Issues
The constitution and post-Saddam politics—coupled with the Kurdish leaders’ close relations
with the United States—gave the Kurds political strength to the point where Iraqi minorities in
the north, Iraq’s neighbors, and Iraq’s Arab leaders increasingly perceived the Kurds as asserting
excessive demands and threatening Iraq’s integrity. For their part, the Kurds believe that the
strengthening central government is not living up to the promise of the post-Saddam era to build a
diverse, multi-ethnic democracy that allows the Kurds full rights and redresses the perceived
abuses of the Saddam era. The Bush Administration sought to acknowledge the Kurds’
cooperation with U.S. policy while curbing the Kurds’ demands enough to mollify the Kurds’
opponents and prevent any explosion of violence in the north. President Obama has not made
official comments, to date, specifically on the Iraqi Kurds, although some Kurdish officials are
concerned about his plan, announced February 27, 2009, to draw-down U.S. combat troops by
August 2010. The Kurds fear this draw-down represents waning U.S. interest in Iraq and will
reduce the U.S. ability to restrain the growing manifestations of Iraqi Arab nationalism.
Participation in the Central Government
The Kurds generally, but the PUK more so, have viewed participation in post-Saddam politics in
Baghdad as enhancing Kurdish interests. The KDP and PUK allied in the two national elections in
2005. In the January 30, 2005, elections, their Alliance won about 26% of the vote, earning 75
National Assembly seats out of 275; and it won 82 seats in the 111-seat Kurdish regional
assembly. Partly on that strength, Talabani became President of Iraq. Because of a boycott of
those elections by most Sunni Arabs, the Kurds also won control of the provincial council of
Nineveh Province, which is mostly Arab inhabited, and had a strong presence on the council of
the mostly Arab province of Diyala as well.
The Kurdistan Alliance showing in the December 2005 elections for a full term government was
not as strong (53 seats), largely because Sunni Arabs participated in the elections. In the four year
government selected in April–May 2006, Talabani remained President; Zebari stayed Foreign
Minister, and a top Talabani aide, Barham Salih (“Prime Minister” of the Kurdish region before
Saddam’s ouster) became one of two deputy prime ministers.
The Kurds want the peshmerga’s salaries to be paid out of national revenues—Iraq’s Arab leaders
blocked that proposal in the 2008 budget, adopted February 13, 2008, but they did not succeed in
efforts to cut the revenue share for the Kurds from 17% of total government revenue to 13%. The
Kurds did agree to abide by a revenue share determined by a census that is to be held. It is not
clear whether or not the constitution permits the KRG to buy weapons from foreign or other
sources, for the peshmerga. However, the central government expressed “no objection” to a
reported KRG purchase of guns and ammunition from Bulgaria in November 2008. The weapons
were flown into KRG-controlled territory by C-130.4
4 Londono, Ernesto. “Kurds in N. Iraq Receive Arms From Bulgaria.” Washington Post, November 23, 2008.
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Political Orientation of the Kurds
During 2003-2008, the Kurdish parties were generally aligned politically with the mainstream
Shiite Islamist parties of Prime Minister Nuri Maliki (Da’wa Party) and his ally, the Islamic
Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), led by Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim. The support of the Kurds helped
Maliki survive several political challenges not only from Sunni Arab factions but also from within
his own Shiite community, particularly that posed by radical young cleric Moqtada al Sadr. The
Kurds supported Maliki’s decision to confront Sadr’s militia in Basra in March 2008, which the
Kurds said demonstrated Maliki’s increasing even-handedness.
By the end of 2008, the Kurds had begun to break with Maliki because of his failure to accede to
their demands on some major issues that are discussed in subsequent sections of this paper. The
deterioration in the relationship had become so pronounced that KRG President Barzani appeared
on a local television program in November 2008 accusing Maliki of trying to monopolize power.
Maliki responded on November 20, 2008 by saying the Kurds were pursuing “unconstitutional”
policies, such as deploying peshmerga outside the KRG region and opening representative offices
in foreign countries. Press reports in late 2008 said the Kurds explored discussions with other
factions to possibly call for a vote of no-confidence against Maliki.5 There has been no
improvement in relations since, as discussed further below.
The Kurds might pull further away from their alliances with the Arab parties when the next
central government is chosen in 2010, which will follow Council of Representatives COR)
elections set to be held by January 2010. On March 15, 2009, Talabani said he would not be
available to continue as President in the next full term government. That is likely to set off a
political scramble by Sunni Arabs to claim that post for one of their own, even though most
executive power is vested in the Prime Ministership.
The Independence Question
The question of outright Kurdish independence is not an active source of friction between the
Iraqi Kurds and the central government at this time, but it remains a concern of Iraq’s neighbors
that have Kurdish minorities. The top Kurdish leaders—possibly at odds with mainstream
Kurdish opinion—have said that they would not push for outright independence. This is perhaps
because doing so is likely to be vehemently opposed—possibly to the point of armed conflict—by
Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Arab Iraq. However, there is concern among these outside parties that
younger Kurds who will eventually lead the KRG might ultimately seek independence.
Kirkuk, Disputed Territories, and Minorities in the North
The Iraqi Kurds’ vehement insistence that Kirkuk/Tamim and some cities in Diyala and Nineveh
provinces be integrated into the KRG is a primary source of tension with the Maliki government
and with the minorities in the north, particularly the Christians, Turkomens, and Yazidis. The
Kirkuk issue, in particular, is considered “existential” by Turkey, which fears that KRG
integration of Kirkuk would propel a Kurdish drive for independence. Kirkuk sits on 10% of
5 Arraf, Jane. “The Iraqi Premier Is Increasingly At Risk As Cracks in His Shiite-Kurdish Coalition Grow in the
Waning Days of the Bush Administration, His Other Main Ally.” Christian Science Monitor, December 11, 2008.
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Iraq’s overall oil reserves of about 112 billion barrels. Turkey also sees itself as protector of the
Turkoman minority in the city and its environs.
At Kurdish insistence, the constitution reaffirmed the process of resettling Kurds displaced from
Kirkuk and stipulated the holding of a referendum (by December 31, 2007—“Article 140
process”), to determine whether its citizens want to formally join the KRG region. Anticipating
such a referendum, the Kurds—reportedly using their intelligence service the Asayesh—
reportedly have been strengthening their position in Kirkuk by pressuring the city’s Arabs, both
Sunni and Shiite, and Turkomans to leave. In 2008, the Kurds grudgingly accepted Bush
Administration urgings to accede to a delay of the referendum (no date is now set for it), in favor
of a temporary compromise under which the U.N. Assistance Mission-Iraq (UNAMI) analyzes
and reports on whether to integrate some Kurdish-inhabited cities in Diyala and Nineveh
provinces into the KRG. The major cities UNAMI has been studying include: Khanaqin, Sinjar,
Makhmour, Akre, Hamdaniya, Tal Afar, Tilkaif, Mandali, and Shekhan. A June 2008 report
UNAMI leaned toward the Kurds on some of these territories, but with keeping other territories,
such as Hamdaniya and Mandali, as part of central government controlled Iraq.
The disputed territories have been a major contributor to the growing rift between Maliki and the
Kurds. During August 2008, tensions erupted over the central government’s attempt to gain
control of Khanaqin, in Diyala Province. Armed clashes were avoided by a U.S. military-
brokered compromise under which the peshmerga stayed in control of Khanaqin. The Kurds also
strongly opposed Maliki’s efforts to form and place under government control “tribal support
councils” in and near the disputed territories. This effort, which the Kurds view as an effort by
Maliki to prevent the movement of more Kurds into these territories, was the basis of Masoud
Barzani’s November 2008 assertion of a Maliki “power grab.”
The North, Kirkuk, and the January 31, 2009 Provincial Elections
The tensions over Kirkuk delayed agreement on an election law needed to hold the January 31,
2009 provincial elections. U.S. officials viewed those elections as crucial to better integrating
Sunni Arabs and the Sadr faction into the post-Saddam political structure. The Kurds firmly
opposed any provincial elections in Kirkuk until its status is resolved. President Talabani vetoed a
July 22, 2008 COR-passed election law, on the grounds that it provided for, as an interim
arrangement pending Kirkuk provincial elections, for an equal division of power in the Kirkuk
provincial administration and council (between Kurds, Arabs, and Turkomans), and for
replacement of the peshmerga with the ISF in the province. The COR and the major blocs did not
find a formula acceptable to all sides before the COR adjourned for summer recess on August 6,
2008.
UNAMI broke the logjam by announcing on August 20, 2008 that it would propose, by late
October 2008, a “grand deal” on Kirkuk and other disputed territories, to be ratified by a “yes/no”
referendum. An election law was finally passed on September 24, 2008 (unanimously by 190
COR deputies voting) under a compromise that provided for: postponement of provincial
elections in Kirkuk and the KRG provinces; the remaining fourteen provinces to hold their
elections on January 31, 2009; no reduction of Kurdish power on the existing Kirkuk provincial
council; an election law, to be considered later, to provide for provincial elections in Kirkuk; and,
the overall Kirkuk dispute to be put to a COR committee—composed of 2 Kurds, 2 Turkomens, 2
Arabs, and 1 Christian—to report its recommendations by March 31, 2009. It is assumed that this
COR committee will receive assistance from UNAMI which, as noted above, has been assessing
possible methods to resolve the dispute over Kirkuk and the other territories at issue. UNAMI’s
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report is expected to be released by mid-April 2009. The COR report was not issued on March
31, 2009 and the release date is not known.
On the other hand, in the process of forging a compromise, a provision was stripped out of the
July 2008 draft that would have allotted 13 reserved provincial council seats (spanning six
provinces, including Baghdad)—out of 440 seats to be voted on nationwide—for Christians,
Yazidis, Sabeans, and the Shabek minority. These minorities, as well as Muslim Arabs in the
north, fear that the Kurds are trying to push them out of the area in order to monopolize power in
the north and gain control of the disputed territories. Subsequent to the passage of the election
law, Christians in Mosul protested the law and began to be subjected to assassinations and other
attacks by unknown sources, possibly Al Qaeda in Iraq. About 1,000 Christian families reportedly
fled the province in October 2008, reportedly have returned—although they remain fearful and
wary—after a new law was passed on November 3, 2008 giving these minorities six reserved
provincial council seats—one each for Christians in Baghdad, Nineveh, and Basra provinces, and
one seat each for a Yazidi, a Sabean, and a Shabak, in various provinces. These minorities asked
for the new law to be overturned on the grounds that they remain underrepresented, but that
demand was not met.
Implications of the Provincial Election Results
It is likely that the differences between the Kurds and the central government will widen as a
result of the January 31, 2009 provincial elections. Because Sunni Arabs fully participated in
these elections, the Kurdish influence in the two provinces of Nineveh and Diyala—the location
of several disputed terrorities—was sharply reduced. In Nineveh province, the Kurds have
essentially lost control of the provincial council and provincial administration. Working control of
the 37 seat council will likely go to a Sunni Arab slate called Al Hadba’a, which campaigned on a
platform of reducing Kurdish influence in the province and refusing to compromise on disputed
territories located in Nineveh. Al Hadba’a won 19 out of the 37 seats of the provincial council,
meaning one of its members is likely to be selected governor of the province.
In addition, the strong showing of Maliki’s list has given him new legitimacy and confidence. He
has, since the election, appointed military leaders in Kirkuk and other parts of northern Iraq that
perceive their mission as pushing Kurdish pershmerga forces further north and out of Arab areas.
In Diyala Province, the Kurdistan Alliance fared better than it did in Nineveh. It came in third, but
with only 6 seats out of the 29 on the provincial council there. The mainstream Sunni Arab bloc
called the Accord Front (“Tawafuq”), took the first position with 9 seats. These and other parties
are attempting to form coalitions with Maliki’s party (which won only 2 seats in Diyala), but the
Kurds are certain not to end up with control of the province’s administration. This poorly
positions the Kurds to assert political control over Kurdish-inhabited towns in the province, such
as Khanaqin.
Control Over Oil Resources/Oil Laws
Control over oil revenues and new exploration is another hotly debated issue. At the very least,
the Kurds want to ensure they receive their share of revenues from energy production in the KRG
region and to manage new energy investment. Some suspect that the Kurds want to control their
own oil reserves in order to ensure they have the economic resources to support a future drive for
outright independence. On the other hand, according to energy observers, the Kurds are
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dependent on the central government to be able to exploit its energy resources because oil exports
need to flow through the national oil pipeline grid.
Iraq’s cabinet approved a draft version of a national hydrocarbon framework law in February
2007, but Kurdish officials withdrew support from a revised version passed by the Iraqi cabinet in
July 2007 on the grounds that it would centralize control over oil development and
administration. In June 2008, Baghdad and the KRG formed a panel to try to achieve compromise
on the national framework oil law, and the U.S. Embassy stated in August 2008 that an agreement
might be near on a revenue sharing law. An earlier draft of that law would empower the federal
government to collect oil and gas revenue, and reserve 17% of oil revenues for the KRG.
However, U.S. officials now appear to have concluded that the various sides are so far apart that a
national package of oil laws is unlikely.
In the absence of national oil laws, the KRG region continues to sign development deals with
foreign firms under its own oil law adopted in August 2007, which Iraq’s Oil Minister has called
“illegal.” Deals so far are with: Genel (Turkey), Hunt Oil (U.S.), Dana Gas (UAE), BP (Britain),
DNO Asa (Norway), OMV (Austria), SK (South Korea), Talisman (Canada), and several others. 6
The Hunt Oil deal attracted controversy because of the firms’ leaders’ ties to Bush Administration
officials and the perception that it contradicted the U.S. commitment to the primacy of the central
government. It is not clear whether the Bush Administration tacitly blessed the Hunt deal.
At the end of 2008, there was further optimism about a KRG-Baghdad compromise on oil issues.
The optimism came after a December 2008 agreement by Baghdad to link two northern oil fields
(in KRG territory) to Iraq’s main oil export pipeline that lets out in Turkey.
KRG Revenue Distribution Issues
The signing of energy deals between the KRG and foreign energy firms raises questions about
how the KRG’s resources are used. Observers from the region say that many Kurds resent the
high degree of control of the KRG regional economy exercised by the two main Kurdish factions.
According to these observers, the Barzani clan and Talabani clan, which control the KDP and
PUK, respectively, have used their political positions to benefit financially, in turn using their
financial clout to solidify political support. Some Kurds believe that their is little opportunity for
independent or smaller Kurdish families to profit from entrepreneurship, because business and
economics are heavily dominated by the Barzanis and the Talabanis.
PKK and Other Kurdish Militant Safehaven
Although Turkey has become substantially less concerned about Iraqi Kurdish autonomy over the
past few years, Turkey remains seized of the presence of the Turkish Kurdish opposition
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in KRG-controlled territory. The accusation is leveled
particularly at the KDP, whose strongholds border Turkey. The PKK—increasingly known by its
alias Kongra Gel (KGK)—is named foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the United States
(under the Immigration and Naturalization Act). In the mid-1990s, Iraqi Kurds fought the PKK,
but many Iraqi Kurds support the Turkish Kurdish struggle against Turkey. In June 2007, Turkey
6 Fact sheets on energy deals signed with foreign firms can be found at:
http://www.krg.org/articles/detail.asp?rnr=148&lngnr=12&smap=03011100&anr=18695
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moved forces to the border after Barzani warned that Iraq’s Kurds could conduct attacks in
Turkey’s Kurdish cities. On October 17, 2007 the Turkish government obtained parliamentary
approval for a major incursion into northern Iraq, causing stepped up U.S. diplomacy to head off
that threat. U.S. officials reportedly set up a center in Ankara to share intelligence with Turkey on
PKK locations, contributing to Turkey’s apparent decision to limit its intervention to air strikes
and brief incursions.
A special envoy from Turkey and Masoud Barzani held talks on the issue in Baghdad in mid-
October 2008—the first direct talks in four years. Further progress in reducing Iraqi Kurd –
Turkey tensions was made during a visit to Baghdad by Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul on
March 23, 2009. He met during that visit not only with Talabani but also with KRG Prime
Minister Nechirvan Barzani. This marked the first time a Turkish leader had met a KRG official.
The presence of another Kurdish militant group in KRG territory is also of growing concern not
only to Turkey but to Iran as well. Iran and Turkey are aligned in criticizing Iraq’s failure to curb
the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish splinter group of the PKK.
PJAK has been staging incursions into Iran, according to U.S. officials. On February 4, 2009, the
Treasury Department named PJAK a terrorism supporting entity under Executive Order 13224—
which freezes any U.S. assets of the group—on the grounds that the PKK controls PJAK, selected
its leader (Hajji Ahmad), and appointed its 40 person central committee.
Figure 1. Kurdish Areas
Source: Map Resources. Adapted by CRS. 2/11/2005
Congressional Research Service
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The Kurds in Post-Saddam Iraq
Author Contact Information
Kenneth Katzman
Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
kkatzman@crs.loc.gov, 7-7612
Congressional Research Service
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