ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The idea of creating more autonomous regions in Iraq will break the country apart and it is very unlikely that Baghdad will agree to such notions, warns an Iraqi political analyst, in light of reports that Iraq’s Turkmen community may be seeking a region of their own. Iraqi political analyst Wathiq al-Hashemi told Rudaw that a delegation of Iraqi Turkmen are said to have proposed the idea of creating a region for themselves consisting of Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu and Tal Afar following a visit to neighboring Turkey and meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He warns that it could lead to more crises in Iraq adding to tensions already existing between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad. “This will certainly not gain the Iraqi government’s approval because it will create a new crisis on top of that with the Kurdistan Region and perhaps Sunnis and Shiites will soon demand their own regions, too.” Al-Hashemi told Rudaw. Al-Hashemi agreed that autonomous regions could take a great deal of pressure off the federal government “but in Iraq it is always seen as something dividing the country and many politicians use the notion in their political games,” Iraq cannot afford another front at the moment, he said. “Iraq is trying to overcome its crises and improve its foreign relations and therefore I think both the government and parliament will strongly reject the idea of any more new regions,” al-Hashemi argued. Turkmen parties and members of the military are said to be gaining strength since the Iraqi takeover of Kirkuk from the Kurds in mid-October, and according to al-Hashemi they are trying to change demographic facts in the province which he warns is a mistake. Al-Hashemi believes that some Iraqi politicians are now suggesting changes to the constitution and a complete removal of the clause about autonomous region, in reference to the constitutionally recognized Kurdistan Region.
