The Kurdistan region of Iraq has been facing serious and sometimes temporary crises from time to time. This region has faced two serious crises since about a year ago; internal disputes and serious challenges in the sale of crude oil and natural gas. Most of these obstacles come from Turkey and the central government of Iraq.

The sale of Kurdistan crude oil, which plays the role of the economic lifeblood for the region, has been stopped since two months ago, following the victory of the Iraqi central government in a complaint against Turkey for the arbitrary export of Kurdistan oil. 

On the other hand, the confrontations between the two ruling parties in the region, namely the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have reached their peak. 

Also, serious criticisms have been published at the global level about the way these two parties govern, and warnings have been given about the collapse of this region of Iraq and the loss of its regional powers.

Kurdpress has interviewed Joel Wing over the situation in the region.

Kurdistan region's inability in receiving it's budget share from Baghdad and resuming oil exports to Turkey 

Explaining the challenge of the Kurdistan region to continue it's oil exports and the main cause of this problem, professor Wing told the Kurdpress nees agency: 

"The Turkish pipeline is still shut down and despite constant announcements there is no clear date when it will be opened. This is causing massive economic problems for the KRG which relies upon oil exports to fund its large government. Baghdad is sending monthly payments however which is helping the situation. The real problem is that Kurdistan has no real say on when the pipeline will be used again because the negotiations are all between Baghdad and Ankara."

Differences between the KDP and the PUK and its impact on the situation of the Kurds in Baghdad 

The expert on Iraqi issues identified the main reason for the differences between the two ruling parties in the Kurdistan Region as the weakening of the Patriotic Union Party after the death of Jalal Talabani, the late leader of this party, and added "the KDP and PUK still have a united front in Baghdad but the PUK has threatened to go its own path if things aren't resolved with the KDP. That dispute doesn't look like it will be resolved any time soon. The PUK has been suffering issues since the loss of Pres Talabani. It does not have as much support as before which was shown when Gorran was formed and took thousands of its voters. That made the KDP feel like it was the dominant party in the KRG and it has tried to push the PUK into a secondary position ever since which is the cause of the current problem. Unless the the PUK somehow makes a comeback the KDP will not be wiling to give it any real concessions."

Warnings about the collapse of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region 

Joel Wing also said about the weakening of the position of the Kurdistan region due to wrong interactions and internal disputes: "Neither the KRG nor Iraq in general are real democracies. Both are oligarchic kleptocracies with a small elite exploiting the state for its own gain. The ruling parties don't even believe in many of the ideals of democracy such as freedom of speech and the press and rights for the minority as seen in the various arrests and crackdowns on journalists and the use of slander laws to silence critics. Since the elite don't rely upon the people for taxes to sustain themselves or run the state there's no reason for them to change. In fact, the oil wealth in Iraq makes the parties believe the people are there to serve them instead. In terms of foreign relations this means more criticism of the KRG such as when it sentences reporters or protesters to prison time. In the bigger picture however the foreign support is still there and largely unchanged."