The future of Iraq: Withdrawal of United States and possible scenarios

Iraq has been one of the most important foreign policy issues since US-led coalition forces invaded the country in 2003. Iraq which is a microcosm of Middle East with its demographic and social structure, has affects on regional developments and also is affected from developments in the region.With the signing of the US- Iraq Status Forces Agreement (SOFA) on November 17, 2008, the majority of American troops are expected to be withdrawn from Iraq by December 31, 2011. This agreement render the US foreign policy more positivily than the Iraq future. However, this agreement does not mean that US completely left Iraq, or gave up its interests on Iraq. US plans to continue its presence on Iraq with the Foreign Affairs personnel who has ben placed the whole country.Currently, there are many problems waiting to be solved in Iraq like Kırkuk, federalism, oil and security. In the country, the approaches of groups that take into consideration of their interests and distrust to each other are the signs of that the problems can not be solved in short term. This situation not only prevents the optimistic estimations for the future of Iraq but also serves for the partition scenarios of the country to stay on the agenda.Key Words:1.Iraq2.Withdrawal of United States from Iraq3.Federalism4.Iraq Partition Scenarios5.Kirkuk6.Middle East