CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | 页面 101

MUSHEGH GHAHRIYAN
forces, the personnel of which reach around 100.000. 3 The Kurds in Iraq
control large oil reserves (more than 45 billion barrels). 4 The sense of na-
tional identity is very strong among the Kurds, they do not identify them-
selves as Iraqi.
The foreign policy of Kurdistan Regional Government
in the Middle East
When the US-led coalition ousted the regime in Iraq, the Kurds played
an important role in that campaign. The Kurdish Peshmerga was engaged
in ground operations against the Iraqi army. The Kurdish forces cap-
tured neighboring territories of the autonomy, including oil-rich fi elds of
Kirkuk. For their support the Kurds ensured larger autonomy and political
presence in the central government. The decade of stability in the Kurdish
region and high oil prices enabled KRG to boost economy, realize major
infrastructure projects.
Iraqi Kurdistan makes eff orts to build its own foreign policy and de-
velop economic relations with other countries. The KRG Department of
Foreign Relations promotes the interests of the Kurdistan Region and its
people in regard to relations with the international community and in ac-
cordance with the region’s legislation and the Constitution of the Repub-
lic of Iraq. 5 The Kurdistan Region has opened 13 representative offi ces
worldwide, around 30 countries have diplomatic representatives in Iraqi
Kurdistan. 6
Two major economic partners of Iraqi Kurdistan are Turkey and Iran,
also having political infl uence and even military presence in the territory
of the autonomy. Along with Turkey and Iran, Saudi Arabia is the third
powerful country of the Middle East. Before 1990s Iraq was one of the
four strong regional powers. However, Iraq gradually weakened in the
last decade of 20th century and fi nally lost its positions after 2003. After
the drop of Iraq the other three countries formed a “triangle of regional
hegemons”. Iran and Turkey have closer ties with Iraq, while Saudi Ara-
bia’s presence in Iraq and in Kurdish region is still insignifi cant.
3
4
5
6
Peter Beaumont, “How eff ective is Isis compared with the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmer-
ga?,” The Guardian, July 12, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/12/how-
battle-ready-isis-iraqi-army-peshmerga (accessed July 27, 2018).
Khalid Al-Ansary, Bruce Stanley, Anthony Di Paola, “Iraq’s Kurds Bypass State for Oil Ex-
ports to Tighten Control,” Bloomberg, 14 July 2015, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti-
cles/2015-07-14/iraq-s-kurdish-region-exporting-550-600k-b-d-oil-of-own-output (accessed
July 27, 2018).
Foreign Relations, Offi cial website of KRG, http://cabinet.gov.krd/p/page.aspx-
?l=12&s=030000&r=318&p=230&h=1 (accessed May 16, 2018).
“Current Foreign Representations in the Kurdistan Region,” Offi cial website of KRG, https://
dfr.gov.krd/p/p.aspx?p=37&l=12&s=020100&r=363 (accessed May 16, 2018).
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