Compared with most other parts of Iraq, the Kurds in the north of the country are doing very well for themselves, enjoying greater security and relative prosperity than most other places.
For the past four years since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, they have had the best of both worlds.
They have been running their own affairs within the Kurdistan region, with their own government, parliament and security forces, recognised by the new Iraqi constitution.
At the same time, they have had a big slice of the national cake in Baghdad, where Kurds hold the presidency, the foreign ministry, and many other important posts.
Economic boom
Despite its autonomous status, Iraqi Kurdistan's main income now is from national oil revenues distributed by Baghdad.
"It's a safe area, you can relax here, and you can find everything you need, but the most important thing is security"
More cohesive than most of the rest of Iraq, the Kurdish region has established a level of security that has made bombs and other attacks extremely rare.
Their police and army forces are based on the Peshmerga fighting units that were at the core of the long Kurdish struggle for freedom.
The resulting stability has led to something of an economic boom, with major building projects springing up in and around the main populations centres - shopping malls, housing schemes, hospitals, hotels, and an American university.
'Dream City'
The boom has attracted an influx of skilled workers from other parts of Iraq, and from further afield.
"We have Lebanese, Syrians, Indians and even people from Bangladesh," said George Abd al-Rahim, a manager at Dream City, a massive gated luxury housing project under construction on the outskirts of Irbil which also employs skilled workmen from nearby parts of Iraq.
"At the beginning I thought it strange to be involved in a project like this in Iraq, but I've lived here for two years now, and things are very normal," said Mr Rahim.
The relative stability and security of Iraqi Kurdistan has also provided a refuge for hundreds of Iraqi Arabs - Christians, Muslims and others - seeking safety from the violence further south.
"It's a safe area, you can relax here, and you can find everything you need, but the most important thing is security," said Imm Yasser, a Shia mother who fled with her family to the Kurdish hill resort of Shaqlawa from the troubled, mainly Sunni suburb of Dora in southern Baghdad.
'Miserable life'
But everything is relative.
While Iraqi Kurdistan may look like paradise to people in some other parts of the country, many of those living here have plenty of complaints.
"Life here is miserable," said Bestoun Abd al-Khaleq, a 23-year-old graduate student who has a wife and child to support.
"There's no way to live here. After graduation you cannot find work. We have problems, like petrol, electricity, water, getting a job and getting married. If you ask young people, they will answer without hesitation - they would like to go abroad," he said.
The two big Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, recently announced a merger of the rival administrations which had divided the region.
Unification is not yet total, but it has done little to mollify many critics among ordinary people, who accuse the regional government and the parties of corruption, inefficiency and monopolising power.
Independence drive
The Kurdistan regional government's (KRG) relations with both Baghdad and Ankara have been strained in recent months over suspicions that oil exploration and production-sharing contracts signed by the KRG with foreign oil companies might herald a Kurdish drive for outright independence.
MY IRAQ
The Kurds believe their area is sitting on large oil reserves, a view shared by outside companies currently drilling there.
"I think the potential reserves in northern Iraq are enormous," said Leslie Blair of Addax Petroleum, a Geneva-based consortium which is drilling at the Taqtaq field with a Turkish partner, Genel Enerji.
"The oil that could be produced in northern Iraq over the next decade would certainly fuel the ability for the Kurdistan region to be self-sufficient."
It is no secret that most Iraqi Kurds would like to be fully independent.
They already have what is essentially a mini-state in all but name, complete with their own flag, and airports receiving direct international flights.
All that is missing is the passport.
But a formal bid for independence could bring disaster.
Iraqi Kurdistan is landlocked, surrounded by neighbours - Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq itself - which would all be bitterly hostile to any such move.
Oil law
Far from stirring a move towards independence, Kurdistan's oil could, for the time being at least, be a factor tying the region more closely to Iraq, for at least two reasons.
However much oil they have, the Kurds cannot export a drop without the co-operation of neighbours, particularly Turkey, the most likely pipeline route.
They also need major outside investment and expertise to explore and develop the fields.
No international companies would risk their capital if they thought it was going into a dangerously unstable environment.
This is why the Kurds have approved the new Iraq petroleum law, which has been agreed by the Iraqi government but is not expected to pass through parliament in Baghdad until May at the earliest.
Under the new law, regions such as Kurdistan would be obliged to send their oil revenues to Baghdad for distribution nationwide on a proportional basis.
New oil contracts would also be liable to approval by a new federal council for oil and gas.
Passage of the law is eagerly awaited by those companies which have already taken the gamble of investing in Kurdistan exploration in the absence of oil legislation, including Turkey's Genel Enerji.
"The oil law is a real and crucial milestone for Iraq, to stop the existing problems and make improvements for security and other issues," said Orhan Duran, Genel's general manager.
"That will create a very good environment to get real investors in the oil sector, because Iraq and Kurdistan need this kind of investment. The oil law is very important for Iraq."
So, while continuing to consolidate their self-rule, Kurdish leaders appear to have decided that their best course for survival and prosperity lies in sticking with Iraq.
"We Kurds think that being part of Iraq is going to be in our interests, economically and geopolitically," said Muhammad Ihsan, a minister in the Kurdistan regional government.
"This way, we can get more advantage, and we can serve our people more. But if the other Iraqis don't want to live together, there will be different scenarios and different strategies about what's going to happen in the future."
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