Masoud Barzani

Thanks to Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Masoud Barzani's move to hold a referendum on carving out an independent Kurdistan, the Middle East is once again a high-risk spot, competing with the ongoing crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

Iraq's Kurds will go ahead with a referendum on independence on Sept. 25, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani has said.

Iraqi Kurds will seek talks with the Shi'ite-led central government to implement the expected "yes" outcome of the referendum, even if they take two years or more, he said at a news conference.

Immediately after his return from the United States, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a key security meeting and then chaired the cabinet in order to announce Turkey's counter-measures against the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) bid to vote for independence on Sept. 25. 

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.

The pressure on Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is building as the date for the Sept. 25 referendum on independence nears; unsurprisingly, Turkey's attitude is also hardening considerably.

KRG leader Massoud Barzani, on the other hand, seems determined to go through with the referendum unless he is provided with concrete reassurances on the KRG's sovereignty rights.

Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has rejected an initiative sponsored by the United Nations regarding a planned independence referendum in northern Iraq, saying that it contains several elements that are against the country's constitution. 

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." 

Turkey's president and Iraq's prime minister late on Sept. 18 discussed the planned referendum in the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) slated for Sept. 25, according to Turkish presidential sources.      
The sources said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Haidar al-Abadi spoke on the phone just a week before the independence referendum. 

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). 

Israeli flags have recently been waved during independence rallies in the cities of northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.