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Iraq
Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly back split from Baghdad
2017-09-28
[Al Jazeera] Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted in favour of a split from Iraq, according to regional officials, as tensions soared between Erbil and Baghdad following a contested referendum.

Electoral commission officials on Wednesday told a news conference in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, that 92.73 percent of the 3,305,925 people who cast ballots voted "Yes" in Monday's poll.

Turnout was put at 72.61 percent.

Any idea of secession is bitterly opposed by the central government in Baghdad, as well as neighbouring countries such as The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Iran. The United States and the United States had also pressed Kurdish leaders to call off the poll.

Posted by:Fred

#1  A good solution would be that the Kurdish and Sunni regions split off together from the Shiite areas.
Since there are more Shiites than the others together, the Shiites will be able to dominate any election they can unite on. This would be a prescription for disaster.
The Kurds and Sunni's have poor historical relations, but would have more foreign support and be a buffer between Syria and possibly Iran dominated Shiite Iraq.Internally they could both be as autonomous as they want. If Israel and Saudi Arabia can live at peace with one another, the Kurds and Sunni Iraqis can also.
Posted by: Daniel   2017-09-28 22:38  

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