Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 23
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Leader of Turkey’s opposition Great Unity Party (BBP) Mustafa Destici urged the country’s government to suspend all ties with Iraq’s Kurdish Autonomous Region, the party said in a statement Aug. 23.
The statement was made in connection to Iraq’s Kurdish autonomy’s intentions to hold a referendum on independence.
“If Erbil insists on holding the independence referendum, Ankara should immediately cease all relations with the Kurdish autonomy of Iraq,” Destici said.
Iraq’s Kurdish Autonomous Region plans to hold an independence referendum on September 25.
Earlier, Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, had warned that opposition to the referendum would be met with “a bloody war”.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that the Kurdish administration of Iraq will be regretful of holding that referendum.
“Iraq’s integrity is a priority for Turkey,” noted Erdogan, adding that, a referendum on independence of the Kurdish autonomy means the beginning of Iraq’s disintegration.