The US envoy to the international anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk, said that his country is firmly opposed to the Kurdish independence referendum planned for 25th September in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe do not believe this referendum is a good idea. It is ill-timed. It is not well-prepared, I mentioned Hawija alone where critical engagements against IS still have to take place with full cooperation from the Peshmerga and the Iraqi Security Forces, and it could have potentially catastrophic consequences,\u201d McGurk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo obviously, we\u2019re in very detailed discussions with the Iraqi leaders over this, and that\u2019s one reason Secretary Tillerson made a couple of important calls over the last couple days,\u201d he said in a briefing on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, we\u2019re focused right now on this referendum that Kurdish authorities have said they want to hold on September 25th. It\u2019s something the U.S. Government is \u2013 firmly, firmly opposes,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Moreover, McGurk stated that the US supports a \u2018unified Iraq\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support the Government of Iraq. We support a unified federal \u2013 a unified federal Iraq that is strong and that is prosperous and that is at peace with itself and with its neighbors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo obviously, we have deep relations in the Kurdistan Region \u2013 in Erbil, in Sulaymaniyah, with all the Kurdish parties \u2013 and I think that is something that goes back many, many decades and is something that will continue. But we\u2019ll also continue working, of course, through the Government of Iraq, within the Iraqi constitutional system, to support a unified and federal Iraq,\u201d the US official concluded.<\/p>\n
However, Kurdish officials say the referendum will not impact the fight against the IS. \u201cWe believe in the fight against terrorism, and we keep doing that,\u201d Hemin Hawrami, a senior advisor to the Kurdish president Masoud Barzani told ARA News.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Kurdistan Referendum has nothing to do with our firm commitment in our joint operations against the IS. An independent Kurdistan is stronger ally,\u201d Hawrami said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US envoy to the international anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk, said that his country is firmly opposed to the Kurdish independence referendum planned for 25th September in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. \u201dWe do not believe this referendum is a good idea. It is ill-timed. It is not well-prepared, I mentioned Hawija alone where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,6],"tags":[255,253,48,254,197,27],"yoast_head":"\n