Masrour Barzani

Seventy years ago, the leader Mustafa Barzani made a declaration of Kurdish independence which was ignored. Last month, his son Masoud, won a referendum in Iraq intended to achieve it. However, Baghdad says it will impose its rule instead. If the Kurds are to succeed, Masrour, grandson of one Barzani, son of the other, will need all the clout he's acquired waging war on the group that calls itself Islamic State. He believes that has earned Kurds the right to a state of their own. But with Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria and much of the world against them, could this referendum end up delivering the Kurds even less than the autonomy that they enjoy now?