Iraqi government

A number of international carriers have announced they would halt flights to the Iraqi Kurdish region this week at the request of Baghdad, including Lebanese and Egyptian national carriers. 

Turkish Airlines has announced its flights would continue for now, as any formal request was not delivered to the company yet from Iraqi authorities. 

Members of the Islamic State terrorist group took as hostages at least 30 policemen in the city of Ramadhi, 100 km from Baghdad in central Iraq, the Al Jazeera television channel.

Brent oil prices hovered near 26-month highs, supported by Turkey's threat to cut crude exports from Iraq's Kurdistan region as well as signs that market rebalancing is accelerating.

The UN Security Council on Sept. 21 warned that a referendum on independence by Iraq's Kurdistan region was potentially destabilizing, adding its weight to international opposition to the vote.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late on Sept. 19 warned of sanctions against the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) if it proceeds with its planned referendum for independence next week, Hurriyet reported.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late on Sept. 19 warned of sanctions against the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) if it proceeds with its planned referendum for independence next week. 

"We have always supported" the KRG, Erdoğan told reporters in New York after his address at the U.N. General Assembly. 

Police deployed overnight in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk to prevent any outbreak of ethnic violence ahead of an independence referendum strongly opposed by the Baghdad government, local residents said.

Iraqi Turkmen political parties have reiterated their opposition to an upcoming referendum on Kurdish regional independence, calling on supporters to boycott the Sept. 25 poll.

On Aug. 29, the Treasury Department announced that a senior Islamic State official, Salim Mustafa Muhammad al-Mansur, had been added to the US government’s list of specially designated global terrorists.

Ankara has been involved in two weeks of intense talks in its search for allies to step up its fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has its headquarters in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq. The Turkish government has been looking for an ally - preferably allies - to start a joint operation targeting Sinjar, which has been tagged as a "second Kandil" by Ankara as