Iraqi Kurdistan Politics and Erbil-Baghdad Relations After May 12 Elections
Iraqi Kurdistan Politics and Erbil-Baghdad Relations After May 12 Elections
Speaker: Van den Toorn, C. (American University of Iraq, Sulaimani)
Date: 12 June 2018
Speaker Session Preview
SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Ms. Christine van den Toorn (American University of Iraq, Sulaimani) as a part of its SMA CENTCOM Speaker Series. During this session, Ms. Van den Toorn discussed three important takeaways from the recent election in Iraq. First, Iran’s influence is becoming both increasingly relevant and significant (e.g., Iran likely played a role in the Iraqi election campaign). Second, given the low Kurdish voter turnout and fraud allegations associated with the elections, the election results do not seem to reflect the real dynamics in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and moreover triggered a huge shift in popular Kurdish sentiment. Third, there is a serious potential for instability now in the KRG, and there likely will be continued strain on Erbil-Baghdad relations as well. Ms. Van den Toorn concluded the session by assessing what the US could do to manage the impending violence and stability in the region.
Christine van den Toorn
Biography
Christine van den Toorn is the Director of the Institute of Regional and International Studies (IRIS) at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. She has over ten years of academic and professional experience in the Middle East, seven of which have been spent in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). She has conducted fieldwork all over the KRI, with a particular focus on disputed territories in Ninewa, Diyala and Salahddin, and has published articles and reports in leading publications like Foreign Policy, War on the Rocks, Iraq Oil Report, Inside Iraqi Politics, Daily Beast and Niqash as well as delivered talks on her research. Van den Toorn is a member of the Atlantic Council Task Force on the Future of Iraq. She has also conducted baseline reports and social impact assessments for international oil companies operating in the KRI and disputed territories, working with teams of student researchers from AUIS. She served in the United States Peace Corps in Morocco and holds an MA in Middle East History from the University of Virginia, and taught the subject at AUIS for 4 years. Ms. van den Toorn speaks Arabic, which she studied at Middlebury College, Georgetown University, the University of Damascus in Syria and the French Institute for Near East Studies in Damascus.
List of Publications
"The Wars After the War for Sinjar: How Washington Can Avert Another Civil War" – War on the Rocks, June 20, 2016
"High Noon in Iraq’s Wild West" – Foreign Policy, February 22, 106
"Rivalries Trump Resettlement in Disputed Territories” – Iraq Oil Report, February 17, 2016
"Multiple Dead in Kurd-Hashid Fight in Tuz” – Iraq Oil Report, November 13, 2015
"Splits over strategy leave town in IS control” – Iraq Oil Report, November 8, 2015
"Kurdistan’s Missed Chance for Reform” -
“Shootout between allies underscores Iraq's divisions" – Iraq Oil Report, October 8, 2014
"Sunni tribes turning on ISIS and peshmerga" – Iraq Oil Report, September 16, 2014
"The forgotten front" -
“Obama went to war to save them, but they still can't get visas" – Daily Beast, August 30, 2014
"On the ground, collaborators with ISIS could be its biggest weakness" – Daily Beast, August 30, 2014
“How the US favored Kurds abandoned the Yezidis when ISIS attacked” Daily Beast, August 17, 2014
“Hanifa’s Story: her five sisters were taken by ISIS to be sold or worse” - Daily Beast, August 19, 2014
“ISIS Earning $1M per day on Iraqi oil smuggling” – Iraq Oil Report, July 9, 2014
“Clashes and tension along Kurdistan’s new border” – Iraq Oil Report, June 24, 2014
“The Iraqi Kurdish ‘winner’ of the current crisis haven’t won quite yet” – Niqash, June 17, 2014
“The solution to Iraq’s political problems? Education” – Niqash, June 5, 2017
“Reconciliation Through Education in Iraq” – The New Middle East, May 23, 2017
“Election Day conspiracy theories” – Niqash, May 8, 2017
“Elections unleash political flux in Kurdistan” – Iraq Oil Report, April 29, 2014
“Protestors in disputed area decry security failures” – Iraq Oil Report, April 29, 2014
“Suicide bombing penetrates KRG security cordon” - Iraq Oil Report, April 28, 2014
“Ninawa Pre-election: Fake parties, fraud and other strong-arm tactics” – Niqash, May 9, 2014
“Power, money, influence, God: Which will Iraqi voters choose?” – Niqash, April 18, 2014
“Iraq al Msagher: National politics challenge local peace in Bashiqa” Niqash, December 6, 2012
“Kerbala Anthems in Azadi Park” – Open Democracy, April 18, 2012
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