Iraqi PM: Secession Not in Kurds’ Interests
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned the Kurdish people about the consequences of the Kurdistan Region’s secession from Iraq, saying the planned independence referendum is not in their interests.
“I do not see any benefit in Kurds’ separation from Iraq,” Abadi said in a Monday interview with the state-run al-Iraqiya television network.
He added that the Kurds’ independence referendum will only lead to more crises in the war-stricken country.
Abadi emphasized that it is in the interests of Iraq’s Kurds and other Iraqis to stand by each other.
Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said earlier this month that the time had come for the region to hold a non-binding referendum on independence from the rest of Iraq, despite being in the throes of political, economic and security crises.
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin on Thursday, Abadi urged “them not to go ahead with the referendum.”
“If as they say they are not going to abide by its outcome, then why hold a referendum?”
“Kurdistan is part of Iraq and I hope it remains that way,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Disintegration is in no-one’s interest.”
The talk of Kurdistan region’s independence comes as Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.
Daesh militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.