Features and limitations of the Iraqi Kurdish secessionist movement: at the state and

Features and limitations of the Iraqi Kurdish secessionist movement: at the state and 
regional levels 
This study examines the causes of the emergence of the Iraqi Kurdish secessionist movement 
for the creation of a sovereign state and identify the characteristics of the movement and its 
restrictions at the state and regional levels. With the support of the League of Nations and the 
United Kingdom, Iraqi Kurds were able to maintain their national existence and identity. And with 
the support of the UN and the US, Iraqi Kurds were able to become a political entity. These 
circumstances have made Iraqi Kurds one step closer to their achievement of statehood. Economic, 
political, social discrimination and the assimilation policy pursued by the Iraqi state to maintain the 
unity of the state and prevent its threat, on the contrary, revived the Kurdish secessionist movement. 
Given that the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum was held without the consent of the Iraqi 
federal government, on an unconstitutional basis only within the framework of the KRG, there is 
reason to believe that the Iraqi Kurdish secessionist movement is an unilateral. This shows the 
specifics of the Iraqi Kurdish secessionist movement. At the regional level, the inability of Turkey 
and Iran to support the secessionist movement of Iraqi Kurds at the most critical moment led to the 
collapse of this movement. Both countries see the emergence of a new Kurdish state as a driving 
force in the national movement of the Kurdish people living on their territory. 
Keywords: Kurds, Iraqi Kurds, secession, secessionist movement, nationalism, national self-
determination