Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan Region (KRI; Sorani Kurdish: هەرێمی کوردستان, romanized: Herêmî Kurdistan; Kurmanji Kurdish: Herêma Kurdistanê;[15] Arabic: إقليم كردستان, romanized: Iqlīm Kurdistān)[16] is an autonomous administrative entity within the Republic of Iraq.[17] It comprises four Kurdish-majority divisions of Arab-majority Iraq: the Erbil Governorate, the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, the Duhok Governorate, and Halabja Governorate. The KRI is bordered by Iran to the east, by Turkey to the north, and by Syria to the west. It does not govern all of Iraqi Kurdistan, and lays claim to the disputed territories of northern Iraq; these territories have a predominantly non-Arab population and were subject to the Ba'athist Arabization campaigns throughout the late 20th century. Though the KRI's autonomy was realized in 1992, one year after Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War, these northern territories remain contested between the Kurdistan Regional Government (in Erbil) and the Government of Iraq (in Baghdad) to the present day. In light of the dispute, the KRI's constitution declares the city of Kirkuk as the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, the KRI does not control Kirkuk, and the Kurdistan Region Parliament is based in Erbil. In 2014, when the Syria-based Islamic State began their Northern Iraq offensive and invaded the country, the Iraqi Armed Forces retreated from most of the disputed territories. The KRI's Peshmerga then entered and took control of them for the duration of the War in Iraq (2013–2017). In October 2017, following the defeat of the Islamic State, the Iraqi Armed Forces attacked the Peshmerga and reasserted control over the disputed territories.[18]
This article is about the autonomous Kurdish political entity within the Republic of Iraq. For the wider geographical area of Iraq inhabited primarily by Kurdish people, see Iraqi Kurdistan. For the entire Middle Eastern region inhabited primarily by Kurdish people, see Kurdistan. For the autonomous Kurdish political entity within the Syrian Arab Republic, see Rojava.
Kurdistan Region- هەرێمی کوردستان (Sorani Kurdish)
Herêmî Kurdistan - إقليم كردستان (Arabic)
- Iqlīm Kurdistān
- هەرێمی کوردستان (Sorani Kurdish)
Herêmî Kurdistan - إقليم كردستان (Arabic)
- Iqlīm Kurdistān
19 May 1992[1]
15 October 2005[2]
Erbil (de facto)
Kirkuk[1] (proclaimed)
36°04′59″N 44°37′47″E / 36.08306°N 44.62972°E
- Secular state[5]
- Recognized religions:[6]
- Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Sabian-Mandeanism,[7] Yarsanism, Yazidism, Zoroastrianism
- Kurd
- Kurdistani
46,862[8] km2 (18,094 sq mi)
6,556,752 (2023)[9]
32[14]
medium
0.750[14]
high
dd/mm/yyyy
right
+964
Throughout the 20th century, Iraqi Kurds oscillated between fighting for autonomy and for full independence. Under the Ba'athist regime, the Kurds experienced Arabization and genocidal campaigns at the hands of the federal government in Baghdad.[19] However, when the United States, the United Kingdom, and France established the Iraqi no-fly zones, which restricted the federal government's power in the country's northern and southern areas following the Gulf War, the Kurds were given a chance to experiment with self-governance and the autonomous region was de facto established.[20] The Iraqi government only recognized the autonomy of the Kurdistan Region in 2005, after the American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq overthrew Saddam Hussein.[21] In September 2017, the KRI passed a non-binding independence referendum, inviting mixed reactions internationally. The KRI largely escaped the privations that afflicted other parts of Iraq in the last years of Saddam Hussein's rule as well as the chaos that followed his ousting during the Iraq War (2003–2011), and built a parliamentary democracy with a growing economy.[22]
Infrastructure and transportation
Infrastructure
Due to the devastation of the campaigns of the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein and other former Iraqi regimes, the Kurdistan Region's infrastructure was never able to modernize. After the 1991 safe haven was established, the Kurdistan Regional Government began projects to reconstruct the Kurdistan Region. Since then, of all the 4,500 villages that were destroyed by Saddam Husseins' regime, 65% have been reconstructed by the KRG.[127]
Culture and Society
Languages
Kurdistan Region is a multilingual region with several languages and dialects. The majority of the people speak Kurdish in its various dialects. The two main Kurdish dialects in the region are Central Kurdish (Sorani) and Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji), other Kurdish dialects and languages spoken in the region by small communities are Hawrami Kurdish, Southern Kurdish, Arabic, Assyrian, Armenian, and Turkmen.[132]