WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States is urging the government of Iraqi Kurdistan to drop plans for a September 24 referendum on whether the region should secede from Iraq, Nauert stated.
"We have expressed our concerns to authorities in the Kurdistan Region that holding a referendum — even this non-binding resolution — at this time will distract from more urgent priorities: the defeat of ISIS [Daesh, outlawed in Russia]," Nauert stated on Thursday.
Nauert also noted that the referendum could distract the region from addressing more urgent issues such as dealing with refugees, managing the economy and resolving differences with the central government in Baghdad.
The referendum will be held throughout Kurdistan and also in disputed territory such as the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which was rescued from Daesh takeover by Kurdish Peshmerga forces after Iraqi forces fled the city in 2014.
The Iraqi constitution of 2005 defines the Kurdistan region as a federal entity of Iraq.
