Kurdistan Region

…to direct affairs in the Kurdish autonomous region by various means, including military force. The Iraqi military launched a successful attack against the Kurdish city of Erbil in 1996 and engaged in a consistent policy of ethnic cleansing in areas directly under its control—particularly in and around the oil-rich city…

Thereafter the Kurds were largely autonomous. Kurdish autonomy is upheld in the 2005 constitution, which designates Kurdistan as an autonomous federal region.

…of which constitute the autonomous Kurdistan Region. Each governorate has a governor, or muḥāfiẓ, appointed by the president. The governorates are divided into 91 aqḍiyyah (districts), headed by district officers, and each district is divided into nāḥiyāt (tracts), headed by directors. Altogether, there are 141 tracts in Iraq. Towns and…