Key dates in Iraqi Kurdistan’s history

1920 After the First World War, the Treaty of Sevres was signed by the defeated Ottoman government, providing for a Kurdish state, subject to the agreement of the League of Nations.

Article 64 of the treaty gave Kurds living in northern Iraq the option of joining a future independent Kurdistan.

1923 Kemal Ataturk's newly founded Turkish Republic gains international recognition with the Treaty of Lausanne. The Treaty of Sevres is not ratified by the Turkish parliament.

Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey have sought their own homeland ever since.

1961 The Kurds of northern Iraq, led by Mustafa Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party, revolt against the government of Iraqi prime minister Abd Al Karim Qasim, igniting decades of violence between the Iraqi government and the Kurds. 1970 A peace agreement is signed between the Iraqi government and the Kurds of northern Iraq, granting them some self-rule.

1988 The Iran-Iraq war draws to a close; Iraq retaliates against the Kurds for supporting Iran during the war by launching the Anfal Campaign, slaughtering thousands of civilians and uprooting millions from their homes. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein launches a poison gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, killing thousands of Kurds in a campaign described by several countries as genocide.

1991 After the Gulf War, Iraq’s Kurds rise up against Saddam Hussein. Iraq retaliates by killing thousands of Kurds. Coalition forces then establish a no-fly zone in the north (a safe haven for Kurds), who in effect gain autonomy. 1994-97 Civil war erupts in northern Iraq involving forces of the rival Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. 2005 A new Iraqi constitution designates Kurdistan as an autonomous federal region. 2017 The regional government prepares an independence referendum and defies international pleas to postpone the poll.