2017: The Kurdish Independence Referendum:

After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist regime, Iraq adopted a new constitution that established a power-sharing framework between Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Shiite Arabs. One of its most significant provisions was Article 140, which addressed the “disputed territories”, historically Kurdish lands, including the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, that lay outside the recognized semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. Article 140 required a referendum, to be held by December 2007, in which residents of these areas would decide whether to join the Kurdistan Region or remain part of Iraq. However, successive Iraqi governments repeatedly delayed the vote, fearing that the loss of resource-rich territories would weaken the central state.

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Following the defeat of ISIS and Iraq’s demonstrated inability to effectively govern or protect its citizens, Kurdish leaders resolved to take matters into their own hands. Concluding that Baghdad had failed to honor Article 140, they declared that the Kurds would not only hold the long-promised referendum on the disputed territories but would also vote on full independence for all of Kurdistan. This bold move was met with widespread international opposition, as global powers feared it would destabilize the region, with Israel being the only state to openly support the Kurds’ right to independence.

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Undeterred, Kurdish leaders emphasized that their people had already waited more than a century since the end of World War I for the chance at self-determination. On September 25, 2017, Kurds across Iraqi Kurdistan and the disputed territories went to the polls. The result was overwhelming: 92.7% voted in favor of independence. The 2017 referendum marked a historic milestone in Kurdish history, underscoring both the enduring Kurdish aspiration for statehood and their insistence on the right to self-determination.

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Test your knowledge and quiz yourself: Quiz on 2017 Kurdish History