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28 October 2017

IT’S TOO EARLY TO POP CHAMPAGNE IN BAGHDAD: THE MICRO-POLITICS OF TERRITORIAL CONTROL IN IRAQ

ERICA GASTON AND ANDRAS DERZSI-HORVATH

“What government?” scoffed Abu Ali, a local Turkmen force commander affiliated with the League of the Righteous, a powerful Iranian-backed Shi’a militia, when we asked whether he took orders from Iraqi forces or the central government. He lumped all Sunni Arabs in with the extremists who had abused his Shi’a sub-community in Tuz Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk, and disparaged the Kurds as “backstabbers” and “cheats” who had done too little to stop the extremists and then manipulated the fight against ISIL to seize control.

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