Saturday, February 20, 2010
CFR expert: Kirkuk will likely be added to Kurdistan


By Wladimir van Wilgenburg

Washington - Iraq-expert and officer at the U.S. State Department Rachel Schneller thinks that the incorporation of Kirkuk in Kurdistan is likely, due to the fact that the Kurdish bloc is likely to become the ‘tie-breaker’ in the Iraqi parliament after the 7 March Iraq elections.

Rachel Schneller is a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. State Department, currently an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. researching Iraq and its refugees and displaced persons. Her opinion doesn’t reflect the ideas of the US government nor State Department.

Despite that some Iraq experts think the Kurds are unlikely to become the kingmakers in the next Iraqi elections and that Kirkuk will get a separate status, due to external opposition of neighbouring countries and the opposition of the majority of Iraqi political groups against the Kurdish annexation of Kirkuk, Schneller disagrees.

http://vvanwilgenburg.blogspot.com/2010/02/cfr-expert-kirkuk-will-likely-be-added.html