Comparison of Independence Referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan and Spanish Cataloni

One demand of ethnic and linguistic minorities in some countries is political independence. Kurds and Catalans in Iraq and Spain are among the minorities who held the independence referendum in 2017. The present study compares the two referendums regarding the fields, process, results, and outcomes. In various dimensions, using the analytical-comparative method, the findings show few similarities and significant differences between the two referendums in terms of historical, political, economic conditions. In terms of the holding process, both started with the exact mechanism, but during the holding, they differed sharply due to the different approaches of the two central governments of Iraq and Spain. In terms of results, the two referendums are similar regarding the ratio of positive votes to independence. In terms of outcome, both Iraqi Kurdistan and Spanish Catalonia faced similar negative consequences such as political isolation, lack of international support, economic problems, etc. Still, there is no consensus on how and to what extent these consequences affected local, national, and international levels. They are different due to the set of intra-systemic components such as the internal situation of Kurdistan/ Iraq and Catalonia/ Spain and extra-systemic components such as the interests of regional and global powers in these two areas of the referendum.