“Even before June 2014, Kirkuk was facing a large number of internally displaced due to the crisis of Al Anbar,” recalls a report published on Tuesday by the Middle East Research Institute.

The Kurdish Peshmerga were surprised by the emergence of ISIS last year and suffered from great losses, and other Kurds from Turkey, Syria and Iran came to the rescue.

It’s the politics that decide what happens to the law, rather than the law deciding what happens to the politics. Everything here is politicised, and this issue is a political one.

Iran’s role compared to USA, Turkey and Europe is greater when it comes to solving the issues in the Kurdistan Region.

Unless they are ensured with sophisticated and integral mechanisms, it’s easy for the majority rule to overwhelm minorities, and we’ve seen good examples of that in Iraq, in the entire Middle East.

MERI President Dlawer Ala’Aldeen joins David Eades and his panel of experts as they discuss the question – will the world ever allow an independent Kurdistan?

Iranian economic influence will bring with it increased prospects for economic growth and investments. The KRG, for example, is interested in importing gas from Iran in order to produce cheap electricity.

Kurdish disunity has already undermined a lot of Barzani’s efforts for greater sovereignty. These efforts include lobbying in Washington and Europe for recognition and direct political, military and economic support.

The election will help the Kurds integrate better within Turkish democracy. It will also create better business opportunities for Kurds inside Iraq and access to global energy market and trade through Turkey.

A high-level conference in Erbil explores the institutionalisation and unification of Kurdistan’s Peshmerga Forces, who are in the midst of confronting the threat posed by the self-proclaimed Islamic State.