Majority of Iraqi Kurds support an independent Kurdistan: new poll

ERBIL, Sep. 26 (AKnews) – The majority of the Iraqi Kurds support the proclamation of independence from Iraq, a new poll shows.

The poll conducted by the Kurdistan Institute For Political Issues was released on Wednesday in a press conference in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

The poll involved a 2500 people in the three provinces of Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok where the majority of the respondents thought it is now time for the proclamation of independence to create an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq.

According to the poll, 56.3% of the respondents said "yes" to the questions "Do you think it is not a good time for Kurdistan Region to proclaim independence?"

The level of support for the independence of Kurdistan varied from province to province, however. Sulaimaniyah respondents rejected the idea of an independent Kurdistan for the time being with only 46.42% of the 978 respondent saying "yes" to the same question. Duhok respondents by contrast threw heavy weight behind the cause with 81.21% of the 596 saying it was time for an independent Kurdistan.

Erbil poll takers' response was more in the middle with a small majority of 54.82% of 892 supporting an independent Kurdish state for the time being.

The poll also asked why the respondents thought it was not time for a Kurdish state if their responses were negative.

Of the 2,500 poll takers 23.10% thought the US and International community support was not guaranteed. 26.37% thought a newly proclaimed Kurdish state would be under the threat of regional attack while 49.28 believed that the Kurdish region had yet some way to go before being able to survive as a Kurdish state.

A small percentage of 1.25 did not respond to the question.

The majority of the respondents (by a small margin) also prefer a referendum to be held in order for the people of the Kurdish region to decide and proclaim independence instead of a Kurdish leader going ahead and announcing that Kurdistan is independent.

In response to this particular question of whom should announce the independence of Kurdistan only 27.49% said the President of Kurdistan Region, 20.79% said the Parliament of Kurdistan Region while the rest, 50.40% said the people of Kurdistan should do that in a referendum. 

Also 1.5% abstained from responding to that question.

Sources:

Mohammed, Fryad. "Majority of Kurds Are for Independence." AKnews. Ed. Raber Y. Aziz. N.p., 26 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/327676/>.