Research On The Energy Factors In The Kurdish Independence Movement In Iraq

Kurdish issue refers to the movement that the Kurds in Turkey,Iraq,Iran and Syria seek political,economic,social and cultural rights,and pursue national self-determination.As one of the five major ethnic groups(Arabs,Turks,Persians,Kurds and Jews)in the Middle East,the Kurds have the total population of 30 million mostly inhabiting in Turkey,Iraq,Iran and Syria.They are the only ethnic group that has not founded their own country among the five major ethnic groups in the Middle East,and the largest ethnic group without their own country in the world.Entering into the 21 st century,Kurdish issue has been escalating.Iraqi Kurdistan developed into the de facto "state within a state";the Turkish government cracked down on the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK(Kurdish: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê)who perpetrated growing terrorist attacks,but its cross-border oppression on the KWK in northern Iraq was controversial;Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria played an important role in fighting against the emerging ISIS.An independence referendum for Iraqi Kurdistan was held on September 10,2017,but it was universally rejected by the Iraqi government and the international community,and a referendum crsis was triggered.The events drew wide attention of the international community.Scholars in the West have fruitful researches on Kurdish independence movement,but most of them only outline its history from nationalism,or analyze Kurdish social structure from anthropology and sociology.The study of Kurds in China has just begun,and only three books and one dissertation,mainly outlining Kurdish history of the four countries in the Middle East from the perspective of nationalism,have been published.Nevertheless,Kurdish issue shows particularity in different regions,especially the independence movement of Iraqi Kurdistan.Kurdistan Region enjoys the highest autonomy with autonomous institutions,high economic strength with large reserves of oil and gas,and closest ties with the international community.The particularity of Kurdish independence movement in Iraq,however,cannot be explained from the perspective of nationalism and geopolitics.Through analyzing relevant documents,the author finds that the biggest difference between Kurds in Iraq and other three countries is rich energy reserves,and Iraqi Kurdistan enjoys significant economic advantage because the Kurdistan Regional Government(KRP)nearly controls all energy production and exports of the region.Therefore,this study,based on the difference,analyzes the relationship between energy and Iraqi Kurdistan independence movement.Through adopting methods such as historical research,textual analysis and case analysis,the author takes Iraqi Kurdish issue as the core case,attempting to systematically explore the relationship between energy and Iraqi Kurdistan independence movement.This study makes breakthroughs in following aspects:First,new perspective.No research at home has focused on the relationship between energy and Kurdish issue,so this study provides a new breakthrough point from the particularity of Iraqi Kurdistan independence movement.Second,new materials.Limited by shortage of domestic documents and materials,this study collects and concludes the latest theoretical achievements and progress in Kurdish issue through consulting with documents and materials written in English.In addition,many first-hand materials are consulted with,such as Iraqi Constitution in 2005,relevant clauses of Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Region in 2007;relevant policy documents of the KRG;public speeches of the government and officials.Relevant legal provisions are translated from the English versions attached as Appendix in this dissertation.Third,new contents.Domestic researches on Kurdish issue concentrate on history overview in a macro and wide manner,but hardly study legal disputes within Iraq.In addition,no research involves the policies of major countries on Kurds,and the relationship between Kurdish region in Iraq and surrounding countries(mainly including Turkey and Iran).Finally,the intervention of international oil companies(IOCs)in Iraqi Kurdistan independence movement further complicates the situation,but IOCs are seldom considered in domestic researches.Thus,the third,fourth,sixth and seventh chapters in this study fill in gaps of domestic researches.Chapter Five further studies the policies of America and Russia toward Kurds,and analyzes the aftermath of Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum after September 25,2017.In the end,the author draws the following conclusions:First,Kurdish autonomy is closely related to energy.During the frequent conflicts between Kurdistan Region and Baghdad from World War I and 1991,both parties held several negotiation on the autonomy agreement.The main issue resulting in the divergence and failure,however,was oil,especially the ownership of Kirkuk.The disputes on oil resources between Baghdad and the KRG will not shortly go out of control because of check and balance achieved through benefiting Kurds with the federation-weakened Iraqi Constitution;in the long run,however,both parties,with escalating contradictions,should hold negotiations again to really settle the disputes.This means Kurds will more or less lose their existing legal advantages.It can be expected that the prospect of reaching a new agreement is dim because Kurds are entitled to veto the revised Constitution.Two possible solutions may exist: first,both parties agree to reach an consensus on revising the Constitution,but,as mentioned above,Kurds are likely to veto the new Constitution;second,changes of external environment.Baghdad wages violent clashes and even an internal war against the KRG to revise the Constitution.The result will depend on respective strengths,and support from external forces.Second,Iraqi Kurds' destiny is to some degree determined by external forces.National self-determination of Iraqi Kurdistan is actually denied by major powers.The UK after World War I,the US and the USSR during the Cold War,and the US after 1991 all opposed Kurdish independence in Iraq.Although the US helped the de facto independence of Iraqi Kurdistan,the KRG is still nominally one part of Republic of Iraq.Turkey and Iran are also against Iraqi Kurdistan independence.As a matter of fact,Turkey blocks the only passage for the KRG to export oil,and Iran has enough strength to cut off the energy industry of the KRF.After the referendum crsis in 2017,the oil fields administered by the KRG were taken over by Baghdad.Consequently,Kurdish effort to pursue independence was set back by over two decades.The IOCs bring both benefits and risks,but they actually exert no favorable influence on the independence of KRG.In future,Kurds in Iraq will not give up their dream of achieving independence,but their road will be harder after they have lost the control of energy.