TURKEY IRAN SYRIA KURDISH CONTROL Oct. 30 Mosul Areas retaken by the Iraqi government since the Kurdish referendum Kirkuk IRAQ 50 miles Baghdad TURKEY IRAN SYRIA KURDISH CONTROL Oct. 30 Mosul Areas retaken by the Iraqi government since the Kurdish referendum Kirkuk IRAQ 50 miles Baghdad TURKEY IRAN SYRIA KURDISH CONTROL Oct. 30 Mosul Areas retaken by the Iraqi government since the Kurdish referendum Kirkuk IRAQ Baghdad 50 miles The New York Times | Source: IHS Markit Conflict Monitor

That loss of territory has handed the Iraqi Kurdish leadership a humiliating setback in their generations-long push for statehood.

Kurds in Iraq are mostly concentrated in a semiautonomous region whose legal status has been in limbo despite an Iraqi constitutional directive in 2005 to negotiate the borders.

The boundaries of the Kurdish autonomous region have been long contested, but they are often defined by a cease-fire line unilaterally established by the Iraqi government after it suppressed a Kurdish uprising in 1991.

TURKEY IRAN SYRIA Erbil Approximate border in 2003, similar to the 1991 cease-fire line KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT Kurdish claims IRAQ Baghdad 50 miles TURKEY IRAN SYRIA Erbil Approximate border in 2003, similar to the 1991 cease-fire line KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT Kurdish claims IRAQ Baghdad 50 miles TURKEY IRAN KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT Mosul Kurdish claims Approximate border in 2003, similar to the 1991 cease-fire line IRAQ Baghdad 50 miles The New York Times | Source: Iraq’s disputed territories , United States Institute of Peace

Kurds took control of disputed territories that are rich in resources.

In 2014, as Iraq faced a fight against the Islamic State, the Kurds capitalized on chaos in the region and took control of contested areas that the Kurdish leadership had long claimed as its people’s ancestral lands.

TURKEY IRAN SYRIA Erbil Approximate border of area under Kurdish control in 2003 KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT Kurdish control on September 25 (Day of the referendum) IRAQ Baghdad 50 miles TURKEY IRAN SYRIA Erbil Approximate border of area under Kurdish control in 2003 KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT Kurdish control on September 25 (Day of the referendum) IRAQ Baghdad 50 miles TURKEY IRAN KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT Mosul Approximate border of area under Kurdish control in 2003 Kurdish control on September 25 (Day of the referendum) IRAQ 50 miles The New York Times | Source: United States Institute of Peace

The additional territories included oil-rich areas, beyond the boundaries of the area controlled by Kurds when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. And they included Kirkuk, a historically multiethnic city that is home to about a million people.

But days after September’s referendum, government forces swiftly reclaimed control of Kirkuk, along with its oil fields and nearby towns claimed by the Kurds.

Kurdish control on the day of the referendum TURKEY IRAN KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT SYRIA Oil field IRAQ Gas field Baghdad 50 miles TURKEY IRAN KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT SYRIA Oil field IRAQ Gas field Baghdad 50 miles TURKEY IRAN KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT Oil field IRAQ Gas field Baghdad 50 miles The New York Times | Source: Oryx Petroleum

Vast oil reserves and about half of Iraq’s farmland are in territories claimed by Iraqi Kurds, including the disputed areas.

Farmland Other vegetation Bare soil SYRIA IRAN Kurdish control Sept. 25 Baghdad IRAQ 100 miles SAUDI ARABIA SYRIA IRAN Kurdish control Sept. 25 Baghdad IRAQ 100 miles SAUDI ARABIA Kurdish control Sept. 25 SYRIA IRAN Baghdad IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA 100 miles The New York Times | Source: Lina Eklund, a geography researcher at Lund University who has analyzed croplands in Iraq and Syria. Note: Land use is from 2000 to 2013; no data was available for southeastern Iraq.

Kurds signed oil contracts, fueling resentment from the central government.

Iraq’s instability in recent years has allowed the Kurdish administration to cut deals directly with industry. In 2011, the Kurdish Regional Government signed a contract with Exxon Mobil for oil exploration in Kurdish-controlled areas, in a deal that angered the Iraqi government as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

Kurdish control on Oct. 30 TURKEY IRAN Exxon Mobil sites Bashiqa Erbil SYRIA IRAQI GOVERNMENT CONTROL KURDISH CONTROL Kirkuk IRAQ Approximate boundary of area under Kurdish control in 2003 50 miles Baghdad TURKEY IRAN Exxon Mobil sites Bashiqa Erbil SYRIA IRAQI GOVERNMENT CONTROL KURDISH CONTROL Kirkuk IRAQ Approximate boundary of area under Kurdish control in 2003 50 miles Baghdad Exxon Mobil sites Bashiqa Erbil IRAQI GOVERNMENT CONTROL KURDISH CONTROL Kirkuk IRAQ Approximate boundary of area under Kurdish control in 2003 Baghdad 50 miles The New York Times | Source: IHS Markit Conflict Monitor (current status of Exxon Mobil sites); Oryx Petroleum (location of sites)

Two of the exploration areas were beyond the cease-fire line. Exxon Mobil was then under the leadership of Rex W. Tillerson, who is now secretary of state. One of those fields, in Bashiqa, is on the fringes of the territory recently retaken by the Iraqi government, according to an analysis by IHS Markit.

Neighboring countries opposed the push for Iraqi Kurdish Independence.

About 30 million Kurds are spread over an area nearly the size of France that spans the Middle East and the Caucasus. International boundaries drawn after World War I left most Kurds split between Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran. All four countries, along with the United States, have condemned the Iraqi Kurdish referendum.

The New York Times | Source: Michael Izady, Columbia University’s Gulf/2000 Project

As Kurds gained power in Iraq, Syrian Kurds became a critical force in the fight against the Islamic State and made substantial territorial gains in Syria.

TURKEY Kurdish control in Syria Jan. 2015 IRAN Kurdish control in Iraq Sept. 2017 Mosul Kurdish expansion Sept. 2017 Kirkuk SYRIA IRAQ 100 miles Baghdad Kurdish control in Syria Jan. 2015 TURKEY IRAN SYRIA Kurdish control in Iraq Sept. 2017 Kurdish expansion Sept. 2017 IRAQ 100 miles Kurdish control in Syria Jan. 2015 TURKEY IRAN SYRIA Kurdish control in Iraq Sept. 2017 Kurdish expansion Sept. 2017 IRAQ 100 miles The New York Times | Source: IHS Markit Conflict Monitor

For Turkey, an important United States ally in the region, the Kurdish growth in Syria and the independence movement in Iraq are considered a threat that could embolden Turkey’s own Kurdish population.

For decades, Turkey has been waging a war against militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K. After a two-year truce, violence has picked up again, killing more than 3,200 people since 2015.

69 Istanbul 64 TURKEY Ankara Number of deaths in the conflict between Turkey and the P.K.K. By province, from July 2015 to Oct. 31, 2017. 154 482 715 594 329 140 SYRIA IRAQ Number of deaths in the conflict between Turkey and the P.K.K. In southeast Turkey and Iraq, by province, from July 2015 to Oct. 31, 2017 TURKEY 154 482 715 594 329 140 SYRIA IRAQ 69 Istanbul 64 TURKEY Ankara Number of deaths in the conflict between Turkey and the P.K.K. By province, from July 2015 to Oct. 31, 2017. 154 482 715 594 329 140 SYRIA IRAQ The New York Times | Source: International Crisis Group

Since the referendum, Turkey and Iran have offered support to Baghdad, increasing pressure on Kurdish leaders in Iraq.