The Kurds and Kirkuk

Joost Hilterman has an insightful guest post at Abu Aardvark on the position of the Kurds in Iraq. The post comes in light of a statement on Saturday by Mazoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region, that the Kurds will annex Kirkuk if the referendum to decide Kirkuk’s fate–mandated in the Iraqi constitution–does not take place soon. Hilterman notes that the recent Iraqi army campaign in Diyala province has unnerved the Kurds: “The feared resurgence of a strong central Arab-dominated government appears to be occurring much earlier than the Kurds expected.”