MESOP NEWS SOUTH KURDISTAN – IRAQ / THE KURDS & IRAN
Iraqi Kurdistan responds to remarks from Iran’s military chief on vote
19 Aug 2017 – HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Peshmerga has responded to the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, saying no one has the right to speak on the region’s independence referendum except the people of the Kurdistan Region.
Following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Hussein Baqeri, said Iran and Turkey opposed a plan by the Kurdistan Region to hold the referendum, warning such a move would lead to tensions and conflicts in Iraq.
“That is why officials from the two countries (Iran and Turkey) insist that this (plan) does not sound plausible and should not be implemented,” he stressed.
The Peshmerga Ministry released a statement on Friday saying it is not the job of Baqeri to speak about the rights of the Kurdish people.“That is considered as a public intervention in the internal affairs of the Kurdistan Region,” the statement read. “The referendum is a natural and loyal right of the people of the Kurdistan Region. Except the people, no one has the right to speak on it,” the statement added.
The Kurdistan Region’s political parties, not including Gorran Movement and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), came to an agreement on June 7 to hold a referendum on the region’s independence on September 25, 2017. The decision was slammed by Iraq, US, UK, EU, Russia, Germany, Turkey and Iran. Analysts have little doubt that the referendum would result in a ‘Yes’ for an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq.But the result would be non binding and leave the approximately five million Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan some way away from actual independence.