Use of ‘Kurdistan' in Turkey (2)

Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990. The US intervened in Iraq in January 1991.
 
During this period, Kurds rioted in the north and the Shiites in the south. Saddam repressed the riots in the south but failed to do the same in the north. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) took control of the state institutions in the north.
 
A no-fly zone was declared in Duhok, Arbil and Sulaymaniyah by a UN resolution in 1991. After this move, the area was declared a safe region. Duhok, Arbil, Kifri and Sulaymaniyah remained in the safe region (Kifri was administratively part of the Diyala Governorate; this is still the case). Mosul and Kirkuk were left out. In this way, with the declaration of the safe region, a de facto autonomous administration emerged in 1991. The Kurdistan parliament formed in 1991; in 1992, general elections were held. The KDP and KYB had their own regions outside of the safe region.
 
On March 20, 2003, the US invaded Iraq
 
Administration forms in northern Iraq in 1992
Turkish nationalists and the Turkish General Staff preferred to refer to the region as “northern Iraq” until 2003. The region was then recognized as Iraqi Kurdistan by an interim law introduced on March 8, 2004. The new constitution of Iraq adopted on Oct. 15, 2005, refers to the region as in Iraqi Kurdistan, and so in any discussion of the region, reference is made to Iraqi Kurdistan.
 
In the aftermath of the events of 2003, the Turkish General Staff used the term “regional government” when speaking of northern Iraq. When the Foreign Ministry took over the Iraq file in February 2008, it started using the term “Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Administration.” The General Staff, however, adhered to the term “regional government” in northern Iraq.
 
The Foreign Ministry uses Irak Kürt Bölgesel Yönetimi (IKBY), which translates into English as Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government -- but does the “K” stand for Kurdish or Kurdistan? This remains unresolved. For this reason, the English abbreviation KRG is preferred. IKBY continues to be used; it is still the same.
 
In a conversation with journalists on the plane while on his way to visit Iraq in March 2009, President Abdullah Gül used the term “Kurdistan Regional Government.” This was a first for a Turkish politician. Gül did so because the KRG was constitutionally defined.
 
Kurdistan is used by universities in their official correspondence with public institutions.
 
The General Staff started to use IKBY in 2011, the same reference as the Foreign Ministry. However, it occasionally prefers to simply state “northern Iraq.