Kurdistan Referendum Council: Referendum will not be postponed

The Kurdistan Region’s High Council for the Independence Referendum on Sunday said the independence referendum would not be postponed.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s High Council for the Independence Referendum on Sunday said the independence referendum would not be postponed.

The meeting was led by the Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani and included Referendum Council members as well as government officials who insisted the independence referendum would be held according to schedule on Sep. 25.

The decision is a response to the “alternative path” presented by Brett McGurk, the US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State (IS), on his recent visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

In a statement released following the meeting, the Council discussed suggestions the international community made to the Kurdistan leadership regarding the postponement of the referendum.

The committee has “respectfully received all suggestions and thanked the international community them giving much care to the Kurdish issue,” the statement read.

The Council also decided that since the recommendations did not provide any guarantees acceptable by the people of Kurdistan, the referendum would proceed as scheduled.

The assembly, which included Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim, expressed their readiness for continued dialogue.

“In order to guarantee our right for self-determination, we will continue dialogue with all related international community members,” the statement concluded.

As the people of the Kurdistan Region prepare to go to the ballot boxes and cast their votes, many in the international community have voiced their opposition to the timing of the move, including the US.

On Saturday, the US State Department issued a statement openly rejecting the Kurdistan Region’s historic independence referendum.

Despite objections from Washington and other nations like the United Kingdom, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, the Region’s leadership has reaffirmed there is no postponing the referendum.

During a rally in support of the referendum in Duhok on Saturday, President Barzani urged the people to cast their votes.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany