Post-2003 Iraq was conceived as a federal country, with a strongly decentralised framework. However, when it comes to the exploitation of oil, then what is at stake are “the interests of all the Iraqi people.” It is a pity that Kurdistan, at the moment “the only strictly federal region,” has for sometime been exploiting its black gold, signing agreements with foreign oil companies without bothering to consult with the central government in Baghdad. On the contrary, as we are reminded by Ornella Sangiovanni, a journalist and the founder of the news website Osservatorio Iraq, the Kurds also lay claim to control over Kirkuk, “their Jerusalem” to be liberated with all the oil that surrounds it.Interview by Ernesto Pagano