The issue of Kurdish independence has recently become a hot issue.
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President
Massoud Barzani has started threatening succession due to his dispute with
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Kurdish deals with oil majors have
also led commentators to predict that Kurdistan would soon
leave Iraq. A recent poll by the Kurdistan Institute for Political
Issues found just fewer than 60% of Kurdish respondents supported the idea of
independence. While a high amount, it was far below some earlier data collected
in the years immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Rather than showing
a decline in the belief of the Kurds one day achieving their sovereignty, the
poll rather points to greater sophistication amongst inhabitants of the KRG of
the problems facing them if they were to take the step of leaving Iraq.