The Kurdistan region held a referendum on the independence of the region on September 2017, and according to the official results, the turnout was 76%. Where (92.73%) of the participants voted (yes) in favor of the independence of the region from Iraq, and (7.2%) voted (no). But nevertheless, the referendum had a significant negative impact on the Kurdistan region, especially in the Kurdish aria outside the KRG.
 Kurdish areas in the province of Diyala, which administratively includes the Jalawla and Saadia districts of the Khanaqin district, with the beldroz district consisting of the Judicial Center, the mandali district and the qazaniya district, in addition to the Jabara and qaratapa districts of the Kafri district. The total study area is approximately (10250.9) km².
To clarify the negative effects of the referendum, the study dealt with four important aspects that have a strong relationship to existence and national strategy. These aspects are: (elections and votes of Kurdish voters, education, demographic deterioration and changes, security and military aspect). The study reached several conclusions, including: the percentage of Kurdish votes in the study aria in the elections to the Iraqi Council of Representatives, as well as the provincial council elections held after the referendum, Arabization and demographic change in favor of the Arab population in the region significantly and in an unconstitutional way, as well as insecurity and forcing Kurds to leave their population by groups and militias in the region, with the aggravation of the crisis of education in the Kurdish language and the decline in enrollment in Kurdish schools.