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The Kirkuk issue in the Iraqi Kurdistan state building processes in the recent period of Iraqi history has been analyzed. General scientifi c and special historical methods of research have been used by the author. The conclusions that the general threat to Iraq from the Islamic State has become a factor of the convergence of various political interests and forces for stabilization of the situation and future development have been made by the author. Despite the aspiration of Iraqi Kurds to achieve broad rights and freedoms until full state independence, the separation of Kurdish territories from Iraq and the solving of the Kirkuk issue is unlikely in the near future, because it will not only lead to the fi nal disintegration of Iraq, but it can provoke another regional armed confl ict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]