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'Wrong Move': Ankara Disapproves Iraqi Kurdistan Plans to Hold Independence Vote

© AFP 2023 / SAFIN HAMEDIraqi Kurdish demonstrators wave a large Kurdish flag (File)
Iraqi Kurdish demonstrators wave a large Kurdish flag (File) - Sputnik International
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Turkey opposes an initiative by Iraqi Kurdistan authorities to hold a referendum on the region’s independence, Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Thursday, Hemin Hawrami, a senior assistant to Iraqi Kurdistan’s President Masoud Barzani, told the Rudaw media outlet that Barzani had informed UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about the referendum on gaining independence from Iraq "at the earliest time."

"We believe that such a move would be wrong especially during such delicate period … We disapprove mentioning such a matter during times of high security risks," Kalin said, as quoted by the Daily Sabah media outlet.

A flag of the autonomous Kurdistan region flies as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position to monitor the area from their front line post in Bashiqa, a town 13 kilometres north-east of Mosul (File) - Sputnik International
Iraqi Kurds 'Cannot Wait' to Achieve Independence
He reaffirmed Turkey's commitment to maintaining the territorial integrity of Iraq.

"Iraq's possible separation according to ethnic and sectarian lines would not only be limited within the territory of Iraq but rather be spread over the region and everyone will pay the price for such a move," Kalin added.

Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. In the latter two nations, the Kurds are fighting against the Daesh terror group, outlawed in Russia, while in Turkey, they are engaged in a conflict with state authorities.

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