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The sharp, dry mountains that run between Turkey and Iraq have long marked a front line in the battle between the Turkish government and Kurdish separatists where cross-border attacks took many lives on both sides.Though a rapprochement has calmed the border, the United States fears stability may now be in even greater danger. The problem is not war -- but commerce. Iraqi Kurds are selling oil and natural gas directly to Turkey, infuriating Washington and the central government in Baghdad, which fear that oil independence could lead Kurds to declare a broad independence and the fracturing of the nation.
More: Kurds' Oil Deals With Turkey Raise Fears of Fissures in Iraq