POLITICS: Disagreements between the autonomous Kurdish region and
Baghdad have been a source of major tensions in recent years. The 2005
constitution stipulated that Iraqi Kurdistan, which has an identity very
distinct from Iraq, is a federal entity recognised by Iraq and the United
Nations, and the 2010 Erbil agreement with Baghdad outlined how power
would be shared. But the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has
protested their lack of implementation, and relations with Baghdad have
been highly acrimonious. Oil has been at the centre of the dispute, with
Baghdad furious that Erbil signed production-sharing agreements with
international oil companies (IOCs) without its say-so, and Kurdistan wanting
to export oil independently rather than through the central State Oil
Marketing System (SOMO). The Kurds accused former prime minister
Nouri Al-Maliki of breaching the constitution by assuming too many
powers, and have threatened to hold a referendum on independence.