Right to self-determination: a case study of Iraqi Kurdistan Region

To this day, the Iraqi Kurdistan Region‘s (IKR) crisis over territorial integrity and statehood remains unsettled. The Iraqi Kurdistan right to self-determination has been a debatable issue in public international law as there are many features of that right expressed in different legal platforms. The issue of legality of the Kurdistan people‘s right to self-determination and whether they have the right to independence will be clarified by bringing up the issue of decolonization. As such, there are insufficient existing studies to evaluate the political dynamics of Iraqi Kurdistan and elucidate which political arrangement is most desired by the Iraqi Kurds and is more likely to occur. Therefore, the general objective of this study is to explain how, why and to what extent is the Iraqi Federal government‘s stand regarding the status of the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum from various international perspectives. The
qualitative approach was used in this research, where semi-structured interviews were conducted, involving fifteen people who were divided into three major groups, comprising the Iraq Federal Parliament, the Kurdistan Regional Parliament and the
Academic group. The result of the discussions revealed that the referendum undertaken by the Iraqi Kurdistan region was illegal as it contradicts the constitutional provision that the state is a sovereign and united federal entity while the preamble of the Constitution can legalize the referendum when it is being
violated by Iraqi federal government. The submissions also clarify that the regional states surrounding Iraq are not interested in the emergence of any Kurdish state in the
area. Equally, the international community with the exception of Israel have not given any credence to the referendum. However, the situation may change in the future as nothing is permanent. The submissions from the interview have
tremendously helped in the understanding of the subject matter as stakeholders narrate their position and also unfold issues of great significance to the research. They recommend that there is an urgent need to generate a new dynamism of democratic political culture in Iraq by activating debates in Parliament; amending the Constitution in order to have balanced power distribution among the branches of government; enacting election laws and new political parties; activate anti-corruption
bodies and national reconciliation, and safeguard economic interest to ensure the sovereignty of the country.