Kirkuk

Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region has begun to pump oil from Kirkuk fields previously controlled by Iraq’s central government into the pipeline system that runs in its own territory, a senior Iraqi oil official said on July 17.

Iraq accused Kurdish forces of seizing two northern oil fields near the disputed city of Kirkuk July 11, as relations between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region hit a new low.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani says Turkey is unlikely to oppose the declaration of an independent Kurdish state, while praising the bilateral ties that Arbil and Ankara have forged over the past decade

Iraq’s Kurds will hold an independence referendum within months, their leader Masoud Barzani said July1.

Barzani said the time was right for a vote as Iraq was already effectively divided following the gains by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani has called on the United Nations to aid in arranging a referendum in Kirkuk based upon Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, which regulates jurisdictional issues.

ISIS-led insurgents are creating an Islamic state out of the vast strips of land they control in Iraq and Syria, the militants have announced.

Its territory will extend from Syria's Aleppo, once the economic heart of the country, to the Diyala province in the east of Iraq.

Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru on June 27 met with families of the Turkish consulate personnel who were taken hostage by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Koru on June 26 met with the families of the 31 Turkish drivers who were kidnapped in Mosul.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani said June 27 there was no going back on autonomous Kurdish rule in oil city Kirkuk and other towns now defended against Sunni militants by Kurdish fighters.

Israel told the United States on June 26 Kurdish independence in northern Iraq was a "foregone conclusion" and Israeli experts predicted the Jewish state would be quick to recognise a Kurdish state, should it emerge.

Iraq’s self-ruling Kurds outlined plans to swiftly ramp up oil exports now that their forces have seized control of Iraq’s main northern oil fields.

Kurdish Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami told Reuters the Kurds had plans to increase their exports eight-fold by the end of 2015, including pumping oil from the fields taken by Kurdish fighters two weeks ago.