Iraqi Kurdistan has been one of the few beneficiaries of the chaos currently gripping large parts of Iraq. FRANCE 24 visited the region’s capital, Erbil, where many Kurds are now starting to talk of the possibility of independence.
The city is just 60km from where insurgent forces of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have established their frontline. Nevertheless, there is calm in Erbil – part of a region that has mostly been a haven from Iraq’s violence over the last decade.
With the insurgents making gains in north and central Iraq, Kurdistan’s Peshmerga fighters have capitalised on the withdrawal of government troops to seize control of many territories that it has long been in dispute over with Baghdad.
For many in Erbil, the Peshmergas’ success has opened the door for a separation from Iraq once and for all.
FRANCE 24’s Selim El Meddeb and Adam Pletts report.