All Policy Analysis by Bekir Aydoğan

Turkmens in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) are very apprehensive about the Federal Supreme Court decision, to be handed down on December 27, on the question of abolishing the eleven seats reserved for minorities in the 111-member parliament of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which currently includes five seats set aside for Turkmens.

Longstanding tensions in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk in Iraq may once again spark confrontations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the latest in a series of disagreements over the city.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has been heading for unprecedented political and financial uncertainties as a result of the growing disputes between the two ruling parties and the central government’s moves to erode the KRI’s autonomous status.

The ongoing rift between PUK party leaders Bafel and Lahur Talabani indicates potential shifts in KRI politics, and likely drivers of continued regional instability.

Iraqi Kurdistan's Komal party faces a difficult dilemma as it seeks a more reformist direction.