Iraq's Kurds to Proceed with their Referendum despite US Request to Postpone It

Asharq Al Awsat 14 August 2017
https://english.aawsat.com/theaawsat/news-middle-east/iraqs-kurds-proceed-re
ferendum-despite-us-request-postpone

Erbil- Iraq's Kurds insist on holding the independence referendum on
September 25 as planned, despite an official US request for postponing it, a
high-ranking Kurdish official stated on Saturday.
US and other Western nations fear that the vote could create a new conflict
with Baghdad and create regional unrests.

Although Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq have sizeable Kurdish populations,
they are all against an independent Kurdistan.

Top official at the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Kurdistan Regional
Government President Massoud Barzani, Hoshyar Zebari announced that: "The
date is standing, Sept. 25, no change."

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Barzani to postpone the referendum
during a phone call on Thursday, Zebari told Reuters.

According to the statement issued by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
presidency on Friday, the President stated that the people of the Kurdistan
Region would expect guarantees and alternatives for their future.

"The US Secretary of State.also stated he would rather see the referendum in
Kurdistan to be postponed, and he reiterated his support for dialogue and
negotiation between the [Kurdistan] Region and Baghdad," the statement read.

Barzani told Tillerson that the kind of coexistence that the Kurdistan
Region had worked for with Iraq in the past and over various stages was not
implemented, and that is why Kurdistan decided to take its own path, the
statement continued.

According to the statement, Barzani asked US State Secretary: "What kind of
guarantees and alternatives are there for the future of Kurdistan?"

Tillerson "commended President Barzani and the leadership of Kurdistan for
the decision to form and send Kurdistan's high delegation to Baghdad in
order to negotiate the political issues," the statement added.

Earlier in June, US State Department stated it was concerned that the
referendum will distract from "more urgent priorities" such as the defeat of
ISIS militants.

Kurds have been seeking an independent state since the end of World War One,
when colonial powers divided the Middle East, except for their territory
which ended up split between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
In July, Barzani told Reuters that the Kurds would take the responsibility
for the expected approval outcome of independence, and pursue its
implementation through dialogue with Baghdad and regional powers to avoid
conflict.

"We have to rectify the history of mistreatment of our people and those who
are saying that independence is not good, our question to them is, 'if it's
not good for us, why is it good for you?'," he said in an interview in
Erbil.

Kurdish officials announced that the referendum will also take place in
disputed areas to determine whether they would want to remain or not in
Kurdistan, including the oil-rich Kirkuk region, north Iraq.

In 2014, Kurdish Peshmerga prevented ISIS from capturing Kirkuk after the
Iraqi army fled in the face of the militants. Kurds are also effectively
running the region, claimed by both Turkmen and Arabs.

Iran-backed Iraqi Shi'ite militias threatened to expel the Kurds by force
from this region and three other disputed areas: Sinjar, Makhmour and
Khanaqin.