Kurdish nationalism plus big power need to control Kirkuk oil leads to ethnic cleansing

Most Kurds are Sunni Muslim. So why is nationalism so strong? Because they live on top of two important liquids, oil and water. Consequently foreign powers that want control of these two liquids, encourage nationalism in order to create Kurdish "leaders" that they can manipulate. The oil under Kirkuk is the last major reserve of easy-to-get oil. So you can expect more meddling and manipulation of Kurds.

The National: "Last summer when ISIL swept in from the west, many Iraqi Army forces, which were at that time in control of Kirkuk and the oil flats to the south, abandoned their posts. Kurdish Peshmerga flooded south to keep Kirkuk – and its oil – from ISIL’s clutches. They defended the city of 400,000, but it was close: by autumn the frontline with Isis was a just sniper’s shot west of the highway that cuts from Kirkuk all the way to Baghdad, 150 miles to the south."