Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ on Sept. 20 issued another warning from Turkey to the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) about the independence referendum slated for later this week, saying KRG President Masoud Barzani "playing with fire." 

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. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has once again reiterated Ankara's stance on the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) planned independence referendum in northern Iraq, saying "it should not be carried out." 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 19 once again called on the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to cancel its planned independence referendum, warning that such a move could spark new crises in the region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sept. 18 that he had formally demanded the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) region suspend an independence referendum that regional actors and Western powers fear could undermine a campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Iraq will not allow the creation of a "second Israel" in the northern parts of the country, the vice-president and former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said, quoted by the Anatolian agency.

His speech came at a meeting with US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silimon and concerns the referendum on independence prepared by authorities in the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region.

The Turkish army said it launched a military exercise on Turkey-Iraq border on Sept. 18, just a week before the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is set to hold a referendum on independence. 

Turkey has accused Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Massoud Barzani of "dissolving Iraq," vowing to take "all necessary actions" to contain any fallout from the independence referendum at a national security meeting just days before the Sept. 25 vote. 

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi have agreed to work together to prevent a planned independence referendum in northern Iraq from taking place.

Turkey and the United States have once again called on Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, to cancel a planned independence referendum scheduled to be held on Sept. 25.