Oil for soil: Toward a Grand Bargain on Iraq and the Kurds

Oil for soil: Toward a Grand Bargain on Iraq and the Kurds

International Crisis Group

Compte d'auteur

A long-festering conflict over Kirkuk and other disputed territories is threatening to disrupt the current fragile relative peace in Iraq by blocking legislative progress and political accommodation. Two events in particular stand out: a two-month stalemate in July-September in negotiations over a provincial elections law in which Kirkuk's unresolved status was the principal obstacle and, during this period, a campaign by the Iraqi army in and around the Kurdish-controlled disputed district of Khanaqin. To avoid a breakdown over the issue of Kirkuk, the current piecemeal approach should be discarded in favour of a gland bargain involving all core issues: Kirkuk and other disputed territories, revenue sharing and the hydrocarbons ...