Kurds in Iraq have started casting ballots in a historic referendum for independence, amid serious opposition from the Iraqi government, in addition to world powers—including the United States. Prominent Kurdish leaders were shown on local news casting their ballots, and Monday’s poll is expected to result in a “yes” vote by a wide margin. “It’s the first time in history that the Kurds are determining their own fate,” Nuri Kaka Khan, a local actor, told The Guardian. “It has been more than a century that we have been oppressed on our own lands, as have our people elsewhere in the region.”
