The Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan heads the Kurdistan Regional Government, the government of Iraq's Kurdistan Autonomous Region.

Erbil International Airport , is the main airport of Erbil city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Kurdistan is a parliamentary democracy with a regional assembly that consists of 111 seats.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq has effectively established de facto autonomy vis à vis the central government in Baghdad.

Widespread economic activity between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey has given the opportunity for Turks to seek jobs in Iraqi Kurdistan.

At the same time, the Turkish government is pursuing a separate path of negotiations, through a rapprochement with another Kurdish authority the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.

At the same time, the Turkish government is pursuing a separate path of negotiations, through a rapprochement with another Kurdish authority the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. The grand vision is to integrate Iraqi Kurdistan into the Turkish economy.

Duhok International Airport is an international airport under construction in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in northern Iraq.

As reported to the Centre for Islamic Pluralism by the non governmental organization Stop FGM in Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, on 25 November, officially admitted the wide prevalence in the territory of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Religion Iraqi Kurdistan has a diverse religious population.

There are at least 2 military airfields in Iraqi Kurdistan.

But the United States remains adamantly opposed to such a deal between Turkey and the KRG, claiming that it would undermine Iraq s stability and fuel secessionist tendencies in the north.

Bapir is a former member of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan.

Turkey already supplies most of the KRG economy s imports, which accounted for 70 of Turkey s almost 11 billion in exports to Iraq last year.

Since the downfall of the regime of Saddam Hussein, the relations between the KRG and Turkey have been in flux.

After applying a reform in the Kurdistan Region in 2010, the structure of the UoD has changed to a Faculty System.

America s fears are not shared in Turkish government circles, where the deals between the US oil giants Exxon and Chevron and the KRG are seen as proof that America is more concerned about its share of the pie in northern Iraq than it is about alleged threats to that country s stability.

For the past seven years, Nabil Musa has been traveling often times on a paddle board or in a raft around the Kurdistan region of Iraq on a one man mission to promote the importance of clean waterways for the current and future generations.

The KRG hopes that a deal with Turkey would allow it to obtain more regular and predictable hydrocarbon revenues.

By land, Iraqi Kurdistan can be reached most easily by Turkey through the Habur Border Gate which is the only border gate between Kurdistan and Turkey.

In return, Turkey is to help the KRG build pipeline infrastructure that will allow oil and gas to be exported to Turkey without relying on Iraq s national pipeline, which is controlled by the central government in Baghdad.

According to the United Nations, because of the Islamic State, 200,000 Yazidis have fled various towns in northern Iraq and around 147,000 are taking refuge in the semi autonomous Kurdish regions, leading to the largest and fastest influx of refugees in decades.

But it is the incipient energy deal between Turkey and the KRG that is set to build the foundation for a real strategic alliance.

Relationships with Turkey are tense, largely because of the Kurdistan Regional Government, as clashes between Turkey and the PKK continue.

(By contrast, reconstruction in Iraqi Kurdistan is occurring at breakneck speed.)

Iraqi Kurdistan has opened its doors to the international world by opening two international airports.

The first international school, the International School of Choueifat opened its branch in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2006.

For the KRG, the deal would secure the region s future economic wealth without holding it hostage to an increasingly unsympathetic Iraqi government.

Born in al Qamishli, in 1974, Kamiran Shemdin published his cartoons in Aljazeera website and Ge P magazine in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Indeed, the KRG government has long made clear that it respects Turkish sovereignty and will not interfere with relations between Turkey s government and its own Kurdish population.

And, if only for its own security, the KRG is attempting to extend its power, formally or informally, into northern Syria.

Since then, of all the 4,500 villages that were destroyed by Saddam Husseins' regime, 65 have been reconstructed by the KRG.

The linked list is an incomplete list of the largest cities within the three governorates which are currently de jure and de facto under control of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Iraqi Kurdistan has two border gates with Iran, the Haji Omaran border gate and the Bashmeg border gate near the city of Sulaymaniyah.

Regional acceptance of a Kurdish state building project that transcends today s KRG controlled borders would depend, among other things, on the scale of the Kurds national ambitions.

Because of ethnic politics, valuable farmland in Kurdish territory has not contributed to the national economy, and inconsistent agricultural policies under Saddam Hussein discouraged domestic market production.

On 7 November 2004, the Government of Iraq decided, based on article 1 of the law on national security, to declare a state of emergency in all of Iraq, with the exception of the province of Kurdistan, for a period of 60 days and with immediate effect.

A Referendum For Kurdistan?

Immigration Since the overthrow of the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraqi Kurdistan has witnessed massive immigration from the rest of Iraq (particularly from Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, Mandeans, Shabaks and Roma), as well as from South Asia.

Security forces recently intercepted suicide bombers entering Iraqi Kurdistan from Iran, with, Kurdish leaders believe, the support and training of Iranian intelligence.

High in the mountains of northeastern Iraq s Kurdistan region, wildlife conservationist Hana Ahmed Raza and a team of researchers with the non governmental organization Nature Iraq are working to protect the ghost like Persian leopard.

Moreover, the chances that Iraqi Kurdistan will achieve de facto or de jure independence are greater than ever.

Fourthly, my delegation has seen no mention made of the compliance and the progress made in Iraq's Kurdistan and in other parts of Iraq which enjoy social, economic stability and security.

Why not in Iraqi Kurdistan?

Furthermore, since the removal of the previous regime in 2003, the KRG has been able to scale up its service delivery and infrastructure, which has changed the economic landscape of the region and facilitated a number of investment projects.