GEOGRAPHY: Iraqi Kurdistan comprises Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah provinces covering a combined 75,000 square kilometres (30,000 square miles) of mostly inhospitable terrain, bordered on the north by Turkey and on the east by Iran.

POPULATION: Around five million.

CAPITAL: Arbil.

RELIGION: Muslim, mostly Sunni.

THE KURDISH PEOPLE: The Kurds, one of the largest ethnic groups in the world who have never had a state of its own, are scattered across four countries: northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northern Syria.

They have nevertheless maintained their own language, traditions and clan-based social organisation. Altogether up to 35 million Kurds live in the four countries.

Until the end of the 19th century, many Kurds worked as auxiliaries for the Persian and Ottoman empires.

Since then regional states have acted together to quell aspirations for Kurdish independence. In 1947, Baghdad, Tehran and Ankara signed the Saadabad Pact, aimed at coordinating efforts against "armed gangs."

Today Iraq, secular Turkey and Islamic Iran still waver between fear of separatism and the temptation to use the Kurdish question to further their own interests in relations with their neighbours.

HISTORY OF IRAQI KURDISTAN:

The League of Nations for a while considered the idea of an independent Kurdish state, but in 1926 it opted instead to attach the region around the Kurdish city of Mosul to the British protectorate of Iraq.

Not until the first Gulf War of 1991 did the Western powers intervene to protect Kurds against the exactions of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Elections in 1992 established the regional parliament, with seats split between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Disputes between the two parties led to armed clashes in 2004, causing about 3,000 deaths.

Iranian, Iraqi and most often Turkish armed forces have regularly carried out raids into the region to support one faction or the other. In 1996, Baghdad launched an offensive in Kurdistan to help the KDP regain control of Arbil.

Talabani and Barzani signed a "peace agreement" with Washington in 1998 then in 2002 reached a deal to revive the Kurdish parliament.

Kurds joined US troops in 2003 to help overthrow Saddam.

Talabani became Iraqi vice-president in April 2005 and shortly afterwards the Kurdish parliament elected Barzani as regional president.

ECONOMY: Kurdistan's proven oil deposits represent just 2.9 percent of Iraq's 115 billion barrels, the world's third largest reserves, but experts expect new discoveries.

Kurdistan in June began exporting oil for the first time, shipping crude through a pipeline to neighbouring Turkey.

The Kurds remain in disagreement with Baghdad over how Iraq's oil production should be developed and how the revenues should be allocated.