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Jan 29, 2009 · Kurdish issues have been an important part of the myriad political and socioeconomic problems that have preoccupied the Islamic Republic of Iran since its inception. The Kurdish factor has also been an important determinant of Iran’s regional foreign policy in the past three decades.
Sep 10, 2012 · Tony Badran, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies whose research and writings on the Syrian civil war over the last 18 months has proven invaluable, sees the Kurdish issue as more than just simply a subset of the Syrian conflict, but rather as a significant transitional factor that will affect U.S. allies and interests.
Apr 13, 2021 · THE KURDS are sometimes called the world’s largest nation without its own independent state. Some 30m or them are scattered mostly across Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. They share a culture and...
- 1 Grounds For Common Interests
- 2 Formulation of Common Interests
- 3 Representation of Common Interests
5.2.1.1 The Geostrategic Importance of Iraq
Iraq is a country of great importance to the EU in terms of security as well as trade potential. The total bilateral trade between the EU and Iraq amounted to 19.9 billion euros in 2018. In the same year, the EU was Iraq’s third-largest trading partner, after China and India, accounting for 17.6% of Iraq’s total trade exchanges (European Commission DG Trade, 2019). Oil exports form almost all (99.9%) of Iraq’s (16.4 billion euros) exports to the EU (European Commission DG Trade, 2019). Over t...
5.2.1.2 The Kurdish Factor
There are two developments in particular that have elevated the profile of the Kurds in Iraq and have subsequently led to increased EU attention for, and interactions with, KRI; the rise of ISIS and the advent of the migration crisis. The first, the regional challenge that emerged with the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), began in June 2014. The rapid rise and expansion of ISIS was a serious security threat to the EU and its member states. This threat was mainly tied to the...
5.2.1.3 Member States’ Historical Connections with the Kurds in Iraq
The relations between EU member states and the Kurds in Iraq are shaped by two factors. The first is the colonial connections of the UK and France, while the second relates to the massive waves of Iraqi Kurdish political refugees to Europe from the second half of the twentieth century onward. As regards the colonial history, its roots lie in the aftermath of World War One and the division of the original Kurdish land between the four new regional states, over which the United Kingdom (UK) and...
5.2.2.1 The EU’s Iraq Policy and the Kurds: The Historical Development
The history of the EU’s involvement in Iraq dates back to the start of Iraq’s war with Iran in 1979. The European Community adopted a peace-through-trade approach, which, for varying reasons, failed to bring peace to the conflict but led to sustained trade relations with both countries throughout the war. EU exports to Iraq averaged 6.27 billion USD between 1981 and 1988, while imports from Iraq, mainly crude oil, averaged 3.90 billion USD in the same period (Kamel, 2015, p. 125). Following t...
5.2.2.2 The EU’s Iraq Agenda and KRI: The Priorities
The EU has established itself as a leader in not only in the provision of humanitarian assistance for Iraq, but also in assisting Iraq with stabilisation and the establishment of the rule of law through its missions in the framework of the CFSP and the CSDP. The EU’s policy agenda is broad, covering a range of issues and fields; notably, humanitarian assistance, development cooperation, political and diplomatic relations, trade and energy and cooperation on a number of regional challenges, su...
5.2.3.1 The EU’s Iraq Policy: A Coherent, Comprehensive Engagement
From 2004 onward, the EU has been proactively working to adopt a comprehensive engagement with Iraq, including political, economic, security, development and humanitarian components. This approach stems from the conviction that the EU could be an important partner in helping Iraq overcome its challenges, paving the way for sustained trade and economic development. Furthermore, as discussed in the previous section, the geostrategic importance of Iraq, in light of the recent regional and global...
5.2.3.2 Evolution of the EU’s Engagement with the Kurds: From Neglect to Engagement
Indicators of the EU’s engagement with KRI can be found in the study of official EU documents related to Iraq. The EU’s rhetoric in the pre-2003 period totally disregards the Kurdish reality in Iraq. One could not, for instance, find the words ‘Kurds’ or ‘Kurdistan’ in any EU documents from the period. There has been a dramatic shift, however, since the fall of the Saddam regime in 2003. The EC’s proposed strategy for EU engagement in 2004 had a strong focus on the dire humanitarian situation...
5.2.3.3 The Boundaries of the EU’s Political Support for the Kurds
The EU’s strategic objective in Iraq is the realisation of a stable, united and prosperous Iraq, which has the potential to become a significant trade and energy partner of the EU. In July 2017, KRI announced it was holding a referendum on independence on 25 September 2017. The EU, as well as a number of EU member states, reacted negatively out of concern that such a unilateral action would destabilise Iraq and the wider region. The EU High Representative for CFSP, Federica Mogherini, issued...
THE KURDISH FACTOR IN TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY By Michael M. Gunter* INTRODUCTION Until recently, most scholars have analyzed Turkish for-eign policy with scarcely a mention of the Kurdish factor.1 In so doing, of course, these academics were implicitly mirroring the official Turkish position that Turkey had no Kurdish popula-
Feb 26, 2018 · The Kurdish factor has become a key element in the Middle East after the war against the Islamic State. However, this new interest in the fate of the Kurds is mainly focused on the Kurds of Iraq, while giving more political visibility to the Kurds of Turkey and Syria.
Jan 30, 2023 · The paper aims to study the process of slow-going normalization of the relations of Iraq and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and the Kurdish factor in that context.
