BAGHDAD/ERBIL: Iraq’s Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with a referendum on Kurdish independence on September 25 despite a vote by Iraq’s parliament to reject the move.
Earlier, the parliament in Baghdad authorised the prime minister to “take all measures” to preserve Iraq’s unity. Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the session before the vote and issued statements rejecting the decision.
Western powers fear a plebiscite in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region—including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk—could ignite conflict with the central government in Baghdad and divert attention from the war against Islamic State militants.
Iraq’s neighbours—Turkey, Iran and Syria—also oppose the referendum, fearing it could fan separatism among their own ethnic Kurdish populations.
“The referendum will be held on time… Dialogue with Baghdad will resume after the referendum,” Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said in a statement on his ruling party’s official website after the vote.
Barzani told a gathering of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk that the referendum was “a natural right”, according to a tweet from his aide Hemin Hawrami. Barzani also said Kirkuk should have a “special status” in a new, independent Kurdistan.