Barring a possible last-minute climb down by their leaders, Iraqi Kurds will go to the polls on Monday to vote on whether they want an independent Kurdish state. Intense regional and international pressure has so far failed to persuade Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani to reconsider. But with Iraq's territorial integrity now challenged from within, the stakes are extremely high, and tensions are already rising in the ethnically mixed province and oil town of Kirkuk, a so-called disputed territory that has pledged to take part in the vote. Long cited as a potential tinderbox, Kirkuk's status has come into sharp focus in the run-up to the referendum. The question now is whether it will finally explode.
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