Middle East

As their power grows, Iraq’s Kurds are fighting among themselves

In recent months, Iraq’s northern Kurdish region has seen unprecedented political and economic independence as relations with Baghdad have frayed. But now the region’s own unity appears on the brink of collapse, at a time when it is battling the Islamic State militant group.

At the center of the crisis is a political standoff between the dominant Kurdish Democratic Party, or the KDP, and the rival Movement for Change, or Gorran. The KDP accuses Gorran of fomenting a week of violent protests in which KDP offices have been attacked and at least five people have been killed. Gorran, in turn, says the KDP has flouted the democratic process to stay in power.