Kurdistan

Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistan; Arabic: كُردستان kurdistān), officially the Kurdistan Territory (Herêma Kurdistanê; تبعية كردستان taba‘ayat kurdistān), is a devolved autonomous territory in the Iraqi Arab Republic, and the only such territory in the Arab Union. While part of Iraq, a unitary federated state like all 20 republics of the Arab Union, Kurdistan Territory possesses its own devolved legislative assembly (the Kurdish National Assembly), which appoints an executive government responsible for the great majority of internal administration in Kurdistan. In practice, Kurdistan is essentially afforded the same autonomy as the 20 republics, but its autonomy and government are not constitutionally guaranteed but rather unilaterally permitted by the Iraqi Arab Congress, via its Kurdistan Act, 2000.