CAIRO (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, Kirkuk’s authorities voted in favor of the province’s participation in the independence vote.
"The decision on Kirkuk’s joining Kurdistan’s referendum is a mistake," Abadi said at a press conference in Baghdad, as quoted by the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA).
In late March, Kirkuk authorities decided to raise the flag of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), an act which was met with criticism by the federal government. In early August, Kirkuk’s governor Najmaldin Karim told Sputnik that the region "has been and will be" part of Iraqi Kurdistan.
On June 7, President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani announced his intention to hold a referendum on independence of the autonomous region from Iraq on September 25, a decision which has been criticized by Baghdad.
