Kawa Hassan, Director of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) program at the EastWest Institute, discusses the chances of independence for millions of Kurds living in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran in a recent interview with OpenCanada.

Although the Kurdish nationalists believe that a fragile Iraqi government may enable a transition to independence, Hassan argues that it will be very difficult for the Iraqi government to reconcile with the Kurds in accepting an independent state.

“At the moment, Baghdad is weak and cannot impose its will. But whether they would accept Kurdistan having Kirkuk as providence – I really doubt it”.

Hassan concludes with a warning that there may be ramifications should the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) unilaterally secede from Iraq with Kirkuk, stating that “there will definitely be a war”.

Founded in June 2011 by the Canadian International Council, OpenCanada is a digital publication on public policy, scholarship and journalism.

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