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1. This week, Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly to secede from Iraq and create an independent nation: nytimes.com/2017/09/24/wor…
2. Kurdistan has been my second home this year. In all I spent close to 4 months there including 2 months this summer. Here is a map: 
3. I wanted to share with you what I learned and reflect on the pros/cons of independence, inc aspects that have had little airing
4. The Kurds are often described as the world's largest ethnic group with no country. The ones in Iraq have a particularly tortured history
4. In the 1980s under Saddam Hussein, 100,000 Kurds were executed by the regime. Rutgers calls it a genocide: ncas.rutgers.edu/center-study-g…
5. In yrs since, the Kurds have built an impressive proto-state. As a western woman, it's 1 of the few areas of Iraq where I feel 100% safe
6. For example, whereas in Baghdad I don't get out of the car much, in Kurdistan, I go for evening runs in the park in a short-sleeved shirt
7. Whereas in much of the rest of Iraq, NYT's security team requires I travel with a security advisor, in Kurdistan I go where I want alone
8. This is no small matter. Fact that Kurds have succeeded in building a safe space in midst of the chaos around them is a major achievement
9. It's also of note that Kurdistan is generally more tolerant. Christians can worship in churches unmolested. Women don't need to be veiled
10. My favorite pastimes in Erbil is to write my stories in the beauty salons where brides get ready for their big day in décolleté dresses:
11. These are among the reasons Kurds deserve independence. Allow me to outline the cons, which are painful to write about a place I love
12. Among those most worried about independence are the Yazidis whose ancestral homeland on Sinjar is being claimed as part of Kurdistan
13. A common refrain I hear is that the Iraqi army ran when ISIS overran Mosul, whereas the Kurds stood their ground. Sadly that's not true
14. One of the areas that was under the control of Kurdish troops was Mt Sinjar, home to a large share of the 500,000 Yazidis living in Iraq
15. According to the dozens of interviews I've done with Yazidi survivors of ISIS' ensuing genocide, Kurdish troops cut & ran when ISIS came
16. Adding insult to injury, say community leaders, Kurdish troops disarmed Yazidis. And did not warn them of ISIS' advance. The result:
17. Thousands of Yazidi women were kidnapped by ISIS & systematically raped. Many I spoke to partially blamed Kurdish troops for their fate
18. What they told me is the 2nd most painful thing that happened after their abuse by ISIS is the fact that they were rendered homeless
19. 1000s of Yazidis were relocated to refugee camps miles from Sinjar. That was fine when ISIS controlled Sinjar nytimes.com/2015/08/14/wor…
20. But here's the catch: Mt Sinjar was liberated from ISIS in Nov 2015. Almost 2 yrs ago. Yazidis have largely not been allowed to go back
21. Human Rights Watch documented the economic blockade KRG imposed on Sinjar making repatriation nearly impossible hrw.org/news/2016/12/0…
22. KRG-operated checkpoints on way to Sinjar banned goods from entering on security grounds. Yazidis couldn't bring in anything to rebuild
23. One of the saddest weeks of my summer was when I made it back to Sinjar. E. Mosul liberated this spring is thriving. Sinjar = ghost town
24. Here are the pictures of the Yazidi residents who once thrived in this region of the world, found in the rubble of destroyed homes
25. Why has the Kurdish government created impediments to Yazidis returning to their homeland? Community leaders have a sinister explanation
26. They believe Kurds wanted to claim Sinjar as Kurdish land. To do so, it helped if the area was less Yazidi.
27. I didn't initially believe them. But when Kurdish troops liberated Sinjar in 2015, I was on the mtn reporting: nytimes.com/2015/11/14/wor…
28. President Barzani stood one 1 of the switchbacks & - to the horror of my Yazidi translator - declared that Sinjar was part of Kurdistan:
29. A similar storyline occurred in the Assyrian Christian villages, now being claimed as Kurdish land. Researcher @Matthew__Barber reports
30. @Matthew__Barber has documented how mayors of Christian towns were removed/replaced with pro-Kurdish ones: academia.edu/34684148/Erasi…
31. He presents evidence indicating that the KRG put on salary community leaders in Assyrian communities in order to adopt a pro-Kurd line
32. Similar reports have emerged from the Yazidi community, with NGOs being threatened with closure if they don't adopt a pro-Kurd tone
33. The Assyrians, whose Christian towns are named in the Bible, are now living in areas that, according to the referendum, are Kurdish.
34. Finally, there is growing concern about the extent of anti-Arab sentiment inside Kurdistan.
35. My Kurdish colleague @NYTmuhammad has confirmed that the KRG in recent months unveiled a new license plate beginning with the digits 555
36. These 555 license plates are being given to cars bought in Kurdistan by non-Kurdistan residents, he says.
37. Since the vast majority of ppl living outside Kurdistan are Arabs, the 555 plates are being seen as a way to ID Arab cars. Here's one:
38. Next time you pass a checkpoint in KRG & see cars pulled over for further screening, take a look at the plate. It's often 555.
39. Following vote, tension is spiking with Iraq. Colleagues in KRG tell me that index finger of Kurds are being checked at Arab checkpoints
40. Those with ink on their finger, evidence of having voted in referendum, are sent back. "Go back to your country," they're being told.
