Note:  This post was a draft for the time before the Kurds have their independence vote….but the news is not good for them in Syria which will play in Iraq and Turkey as well…..so I jumped the gun……

Today is 01 September….not a big deal except to the Kurds.

You see this month the Kurds will be voting on an independence referendum….a vote as the first step to an independent Kurdistan in the Middle East.

For over a century the Kurds feeling betrayed by the Sykes-Picot Agreement, have longed for their own homeland…but there is more to it than that, right?

Iraqi Kurdistan’s upcoming independence referendum on Sept. 25, 2017 will determine, among other things, the borders of an emerging Kurdish state in that region. With this determination would likely come border conflicts for an independent state squeezed between several volatile flashpoints.

Presently, the borders of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region are not clear-cut. Baghdad and Erbil both lay claim to “disputed territories.” Under Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, a referendum should conclusively resolve the status of these territories. Yet Iraq never implemented this article and has stalled on doing so for a decade.

Source: An Independent Kurdistan Would Begin With a Clash | War Is Boring

There are Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran…but the referendum is only being voted on in Iraq.

It seems to be popular in Iraq but not so much in Iran, who has a substantial Kurd population….

International bodies, regional powers and Baghdad are not alone in objecting to Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence project. Feylis, who are Shiite Kurds, are also fundamentally opposed to Kurdistan’s possible secession from Iraq.

Immediately after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on June 7 announced its intention to hold a referendum on independence, most of the parties and forces concerned about Iraqi developments expressed their opposition, in part out of concern that it will lead to an escalation of regional crises. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi laid out the Iraqi government’s official position June 18, stating, “The Kurdistan Regional referendum on secession is illegal, and the federal government will not support it, fund it or participate in it.” The United States and Iraq’s neighbors, including Turkey, Iran and Syria, oppose the country’s territorial division.