Kirkuk and the impact of regional and international powers on the non-implementation of Article 140

Abstract

The process of Arabization was performed toward the Kurdish nation since the establishment of modern Iraqi states in 1921. But the atrocities toward Kurds increased when the Ba’ath regime came to power in 1958. Yet, for many decades the international community kept silent during such atrocities of genocide, chemical bombing, and Anfal campaigning. The regime's collapse in 2003 was the first sign of hope for Kurds to achieve all their fundamental rights. Although the Kurdistan Region was recognized constitutionally in 2005, disputed territories remained a conflict point between the Kurdistan Region and the central government of Iraq. When the Ba’ath regime collapsed in 2003,  still the Kurdish area out of the border of Kurdistan Region continued to be disputed, but, this issue was addressed in Article 140 of the new Iraqi federal constitution of 2005.