International community urges Kurds to postpone independence referendum

Kurdish voters in northern Iraq are preparing to vote in an independence referendum scheduled for Monday, world media report, according to the Patria agency.

Six million Kurds live in this part of Iraq, it is considered a Kurdish region, and they already have their local government there, the BBC states.

Iraqi officials, neighboring countries, and Western leaders believe that the referendum should be rejected or at least postponed.

The Iraqi parliament has rejected the holding of a referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurds. The parliament has simultaneously authorized Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to take all measures to preserve the unity of Iraq.

The strongest condemnations of the intentions of Iraqi Kurds come from Turkey. The Turkish parliament will hold an emergency session as part of increasing pressure on Iraqi Kurds to abandon the referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan. Media report that MPs will vote on renewing the military's authorization to intervene in Iraq. The current mandate expires next month.

The Turkish government will consider responses to the referendum tomorrow, and the Turkish Foreign Minister has previously stated that the intentions of the Iraqi Kurdish leadership to hold an independence referendum would lead to civil war.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply criticized the announced referendum in June, calling it a "mistake and a threat" to Iraq's territorial integrity.

- The main reason for our opposition to this referendum is the importance of preserving Iraq's territorial and political integrity - stated Erdogan's spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin, denying any ill intentions towards the Kurds.

The UN Security Council also issued a statement, expressing concern about the consequences the referendum could have. It is warned that the referendum could also thwart efforts to ensure the return of more than three million refugees and displaced persons.

The US asked Iraqi Kurds at the end of August to postpone the referendum on the independence of their autonomous Kurdish region. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently made this request during a phone call with the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani.

The US State Department expressed concern in June that the referendum would divert attention from "more urgent priorities" such as defeating the Islamic State extremists. The US and other Western countries are concerned that this vote could turn into another regional hotspot.