Since independence successive Iraqi regimes have struggled to assert control over the Kurdish nationalists dominating the country’s northern corridor. But in addition to the Kurdish first order minority, northern Iraq also contains smaller Yazidi, Shabak, and Christian second order, or, “local” minorities. A measure of communal autonomy is often their preferred political goal. But the lack of political power and a foreign protector means these second order minorities must pick sides between the Iraqi central government and the Kurdish nationalists controlling the KRG. Kurdish nationalists have thus been quick to capitalize on the anxieties of second order minority communities to further their own statehood ambitions, particularly since the fall of the Ba’ath regime and the emergence of the KRG as an officially recognized political entity in Iraq. This project explores how the Kurdistan Regional Government has used second order minorities as proxies, political spoilers, and pawns to further statehood ambitions from the 2003 US invasion until the 2017 Kurdistan Referendum on Independence. Relying on ethnographic field work conducted in Iraq along with existing primary and secondary sources, it argues that the KRG used legislation, bureaucracy, political party and militia recruitment, security fears, and economic and other types of political inducements to manipulate the loyalties and identities of its minority communities. The goal was to consolidate the grip on key areas of the disputed territories and secure statehood even though many of these tactics “loosened” what it meant to be a “Kurd” and the very notion of a “Kurdish state.” This study suggests several reasons for more scholarly attention devoted to analyzing interactions between first and second order minorities, particularly in the Middle East. First order minorities are in a comparatively enhanced position to make claims for autonomy or statehood. Focusing on how such groups treat their minorities provides valuable insight into the legitimacy of these statehood claims as well when counter mobilization takes place. It can also help scholars gain an intricate understanding of how violence, assimilation, displacement, and inducements shape state and nation building. Finally, analyzing interactions between first and second order minorities offers critical insights into how and why separatist movements and the identity and homeland claims they make evolve.