In setting energy policy, Kurds flex their independence | The National

In setting energy policy, Kurds flex their independence | The National:



"When a referendum on independence for the Kurdish region was held alongside the 2005 parliamentary elections in Iraq, the result was more than conclusive – 98.8 per cent of Kurds voted in favour of an independent Kurdistan.



Now, with Erbil and Baghdad at loggerheads over the former’s independent oil exports to Turkey and the latter’s threat to cut the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) funding in response, the issue of independence has raised its head again.



 As an Islamist insurgency rages in the south, the KRG’s control over the north has looked impressive by comparison, with little violence in the Kurdish region apart from last September’s attack on Erbil, in which a number of soldiers were killed and dozens injured."



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