Political power in the Kurdish zone largely rests with the two parties.

But no sooner had Ambassador Titorenko arrived than he subtly disrespected the Kurdish zone.

Local militia commanders, especially in the valleys cut off by heavy blizzards and avalanches, run large sections of the Kurdish zone as personal fiefs.

The real audience was not in this northern city, near the border with the nominally independent Kurdish zone, but elsewhere.

The evacuation was not the first from the Kurdish zone.

This was an apparent reference to suggestions that had been raised that Kurdish zones in northern Iraq be turned into a separate state.

Security is ubiquitous and highly effective in the Kurdish zone, where racial profiling of Arabs is the norm.

The embrace of security may soon give a further economic lift to the Kurdish zone.

But developments in the long-established Kurdish no-fly zone of northern Iraq invite a different interpretation.

But Turkey is uneasy about having a Kurdish autonomous zone on its border.