KRG offers to freeze independence referendum results, calls for open dialogue with Iraq

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has offered to freeze the results of the independence referendum and called for all military operations to cease for an open dialogue with Baghdad to begin.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has offered to freeze the results of the independence referendum and called for all military operations to cease for an open dialogue with Baghdad to begin.

In a statement early Wednesday morning, the KRG stated that due to the grave and dangerous circumstances facing Iraq and Kurdistan, all sides are obliged to act responsibly in order to prevent further violence and clashes between Iraqi and Peshmerga forces.

The KRG has called for the “immediate ceasefire and halt all military operations in the Kurdistan Region,” for Erbil to consider freezing the results of referendum conducted in the Kurdistan Region and urged for “an open dialogue between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraqi Federal Government on the basis of the Constitution.”

The KRG's propositions to the Iraqi government and Iraqi and world public opinion were made “in order to fulfill our responsibilities and obligations towards the people of Kurdistan and Iraq.”

“Attacks and confrontations between Iraqi and Peshmerga forces that started on October 16, 2017, especially [Tuesday]'s clashes, have caused damage to both sides and could lead to a continuous bloodshed, inflicting pain and social unrest among different components of Iraqi society,” the statement read.

The KRG added that continued fighting would not lead any side to victory, but rather would “drive the country towards disarray and chaos, affecting all aspects of life.”

 

Editing by G.H. Renaud