Kurdish authorities have accused Baghdad of undermining attempts to reach a deal on disputed areas and borders. Once unified in their fight against the "Islamic State," the Kurds feel betrayed by the central government.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/K. Mohammed
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The armed wing of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq on Thursday said Baghdad is "not interested" in a deal to deploy federal and Kurdish troops at the country's border with Turkey.
On Tuesday, the KRG proposed a joint deployment at the strategic Fish-Khabur crossing on the Iraqi-Turkish border.
The joint deployment represented "a goodwill gesture and trust-building exercise that ensures a limited and temporary arrangement until an agreement is reached in accordance with the Iraqi constitution," the KRG said in a statement.
Kirkuk: Who's fighting in Iraq's Kurdish-controlled province?
From Shiite militias to Turkey's outlawed PKK, armed groups are fighting for power in Iraqi Kurdistan's oil-rich province of Kirkuk. DW examines who's who in the dispute as tensions rise in the Middle East nation.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca
Battle for Kirkuk
Only a few shots were fired, but Iraq's decision to send in armed forces into the Kurdish-controlled province of Kirkuk and bring it back into the fold has heightened tensions in the Middle East nation. Who's on who's side? And where is the territorial dispute going? DW takes a look at the actors and their motives.
Image: Reuters/Stringer
Iraq's army
In 2014, Kurdish forces went into Kirkuk to fill in the void left behind after Iraq's army collapsed from the "Islamic State's" military campaign. But three years later, the Iraqi military has been rebuilt and ridden a wave of victories against the notorious militant group. They're the main instrument of hard power for the Iraqi government as Baghdad fights for control of the oil-rich province.
Image: Reuters/Stringer
Shiite-dominated Popular Mobilization Units
Even during the liberation of Mosul, the Iraqi army was backed by the Popular Mobilization Units – an alliance of mostly Shiite militias. The Popular Mobilization Units joined the Iraqi army when it advanced on Kurdish-controlled positions in and around the city of Kirkuk. Kurdish politicians have lashed at the units, saying they're serving Iran's goal to destabilize the region.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Al-Rubaye
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is one of the main opposition political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan. Since the first Gulf War, the PUK has jointly administered Iraqi Kurdistan with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Both the PUK and KDP have their own peshmerga forces. In Kirkuk, PUK peshmerga fled the city, leaving it virtually unopposed to Iraqi forces.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/H. Baban
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani is the ruling political party in Iraqi Kurdistan's parliament. Despite warnings from the central government, it was the KDP's Barzani who vowed to move forward on the independence referendum, infuriating Baghdad. KDP peshmerga fighters – like the PUK fighters – fled Kirkuk when Iraqi forces advanced on the city.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Janssen
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was born in the 1970s out of an ambitious dream to create a Marxist-Leninist state in the Middle East to be called Kurdistan. In the 1980s, the group launched a bloody insurgency against the state of Turkey. While considered unwelcome in Iraq, the PKK has links with Iraq's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – and likely appeared in Kirkuk to back them.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered economic and military retaliation for failing to annul the independence referendum, which witnessed 92.73 percent of the vote cast in favor of a divorce from Baghdad, including in disputed areas.
Since Iraqi-led forces captured Kirkuk, the Iraqi government has suspended military operations in Kurdistan to reach a deal with Kurdish authorities.
However, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command has accused the KRG of using the lull in fighting to "buy time" to bolster its forces. "We will not allow it. The federal forces are mandated to secure (the disputed) areas and borders," it said in a statement.
Kurds have accused the Shiite-majority Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) of perpetrating attacks against the Kurdish people while Baghdad has stood silentImage: picture-alliance/Zuma/E. Fitt
Once unified against 'IS'
When the Iraqi army fled Kirkuk in the face of a military offensive by the "Islamic State" militant group, Kurdish forces stepped in and prevented them from gaining hold of territory.
Since then, Kurdish peshmerga have assisted Iraqi-led forces to oust the militant group, culminating in the recapture of the IS stronghold Mosul.
However, the violence surrounding the capture of Mosul has caught the attention of the international community. The UN's human rights office on Thursday called on Iraq to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), warning that its domestic courts may not have the power to enact justice for "international crimes."
