The Baghdad government only recognized the autonomy of the Kurdistan Region after the fall of Saddam Hussein, with a new Iraqi constitution in 2005….Kurdistan Region.

Medes

Amid the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from three northern provinces, Kurdistan Region emerged in 1992 as an autonomous entity inside Iraq with its own local government and parliament. A 2010 US report, written before the instability in Syria and Iraq that exists as of 2014, attested that “Kurdistan may exist by 2030”.

Much of the geographical and cultural region of Iraqi Kurdistan is part of the Kurdistan Region (KRI), an autonomous region recognized by the Constitution of Iraq.

Basra (Arabic: ٱلْبَصْرَة‎, romanized: al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq’s main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr….Basra.

Between 25 and 35 million Kurds inhabit a mountainous region straddling the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Armenia. They make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.

Mosul (Arabic: الموصل‎, romanized: al-Mawṣil, Kurdish: Mûsil ,مووسڵ‎, Syriac: ܡܘܨܠ‎, romanized: Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq. It is the capital of Nineveh governorate and is Iraq’s second largest city….Mosul.

But in September 2017, two weeks after Iraqi Kurds voted a massive ‘yes’ to independence in a controversial referendum, the central Iraqi government swiftly seized control of Kirkuk – a lucrative revenue stream for the KRG – as well as other disputed areas.

According to the 1957 census the Iraqi Turkmen formed the majority of inhabitants in the city of Kirkuk, with 40% declaring their mother tongue as “Turkish”. The second-largest Iraqi Turkmen city is Tel Afar where they make up 95% of the inhabitants. Some Iraqi Turkmen also live outside the Turkmeneli region.