At a recent international trade fair in Sulaymaniyah, 39-year-old Zhilwan Mahmoud(ph) said Kurds prefer not to think about the violence down in the south.

NPR: Flag Symbolizes Divisive Issue of Kurdish Autonomy

At the eight or nine security checkpoints through which you pass on the road from Erbil to Sulaymaniyah, the two main cities of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, as international documents officially call it, you never spot the name of Iraq on a military or police badge.

ECONOMIST: Iraqi Kurdistan