Kurdistan is not a recognised sovereign state but it has many of the trappings of one. However, a move towards full independence via a referendum in 2017 backfired badly. Baghdad sent in the Iraqi military, backed by Shia militia. They confronted the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and took control of the city of Kirkuk after just a few days of fighting. The Kurds had taken it from Islamic State and had hoped that the city, which lies adjacent to a huge oil field, might one day be their sovereign capital. But with their common enemy routed, the rivalry between the Kurdish regional government and
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