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September 21st, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Iran, Iraq and Turkey have agreed to discuss coordinated counter-measures against the government of Iraq’s Kurdistan Autonomous Region and the bid to hold an independence referendum on September 25.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaferi, and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu held a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York City, late on September 20.
After their meeting Cavosogly used his Twitter account to state “We, as the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Iraq evaluated developments in our region at a trilateral meeting”. The three foreign ministers also issued a joint communiqué after the meeting to express their joint opposition against the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) plan to hold the independence referendum in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) or Iraq on September 25.
“[The three ministers] expressed their concern that the planned referendum by the KRG … puts Iraq’s hard-earned gains against DEASH [an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] at great risk. They further expressed their concern that the planned KRG referendum is unconstitutional and runs the risk of provoking new conflicts in the region, which will prove difficult to contain,” read the communiqué.
The ministers registered their unequivocal opposition to the referendum and decided to urge the leadership of the KRG to refrain from holding the referendum more forcibly, also stressing that the referendum will not be beneficial for the Kurds and KRG.
“[The ministers] agreed to consider taking coordinated counter-measures, recognizing that constructive dialogue within the Iraqi constitution is the only way forward to address issues between Baghdad and Arbil (Erbil),” it added.
Emphasizing the importance of concerted international efforts to convince the KRG to call off the referendum, the communiqué renewed the three countries’ call on the international community to remain engaged on the issue. It also welcomed the recent liberation of the Nineveh Governorate, a major victory against ISIL, and stressed the importance of keeping the focus on liberating the remaining areas that are still under jihadist control. “[The three ministers] underscored the importance of post-DEASH stabilization efforts to achieve lasting security and stability in Iraq,” the statement said.
Several top Iranian, Iraqi and Turkish politicians have previously declared that the independence referendum could become a casus belli. The United States and most European Union member states would welcome the referendum – in principle – but say the timing is bad – among others because a conflict between Kurds and Baghdad could weaken coordination in the fight against ISIS.
It is worth noting the Turkey already announced sudden military drills on its border to the KAR and that armed clashes between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards and Iranian – Kurdish Peshmerga have increased over the past year, with Iran lobbing artillery shells into Iraq’s Kurdistan Autonomous Region. In early September Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s powerful Expediency Discernment Council, appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, warned Iraqi Kurds about the likelihood of “decades of war” following the referendum. Also in early September, Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Iraq’s Shi’ite, Iranian-backed Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq of the Hashd al-Shaabi forces, threatened that should Kirkuk be attached to Iraq’s Kurdistan Region through the independence referendum, scheduled for September 25, Shi’ite forces will take military action against Kirkuk.
CH/L – nsnbc 21.09.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/09/21/iran-iraq-and-turkey-consider-joint-measures-against-kurdistan-independence-referendum/
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