Iraqi Kurdistan (Kurdish: ههرێمی کوردستان Herêmî Kurdistan), also known as Kurdistan Region or South Kurdistan, is the autonomous region of Iraq.[4] It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Erbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr.[5] The region is officially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Iraqi Kurdistan is a parliamentary democracy with a regional assembly that consists of 111 seats.[6] The current president is Masoud Barzani, who was initially elected in 2005 and re-elected in 2009. The new Iraqi constitution defines Iraqi Kurdistan as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Arabic and Kurdish as Iraq's joint official languages. The four governorates of Duhok, Hawler, Silemani, and Halabja