ABSTRACT
The first Kurdish de facto self-rule (KDS) in Iraq was established in 1961 and lasted until 1975. For some 14 years, half of the areas in Iraqi Kurdistan, comprised of more than 50 per cent Kurdish inhabitants, became the area known as ‘Free Kurdistan’ with demarcated boundaries. An administration, made up of legislative and executive councils, was established. This KDS had its own constitution, laws, regulations, budget, education, health, and taxation system. The KDS satisfied all unrecognised quasi-state criteria, namely, symbolic nation-building, militarisation of society, weakness of the parent state, and external patronages. Therefore, the KDS was the first unrecognised Kurdish quasi-state.
