UK Defense Minister urges Barzani to engage in dialogue with Baghdad after referendum

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The United Kingdom’s Secretary of Defense urged the Kurdistan Region President to engage in dialogue with Baghdad following the historic Sep. 25 referendum on independence from Iraq.

In a letter to Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani, Michael Fallon, the UK Secretary of State for Defense, encouraged the Kurdish leader to engage in dialogue with his Iraqi counterparts and neighboring countries to reach an “agreeable solution.”

According to a Saturday statement by the Kurdistan Region Presidency (KRP), Fallon thanked President Barzani for his warm welcome during his visit to the Kurdistan Region on Sep. 18.

“Now that the referendum has taken place, I would urge you to engage constructively with Baghdad and your other neighbors and strive for a mutually agreeable solution in a measured and calm manner,” Fallon wrote in the letter to President Barzani.

The Defense Secretary referred “to the importance of the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces in the collective effort to rid the region of the terrorists of the Islamic State (IS),” the KRP statement added.

Fallon also encouraged President Barzani “to continue the excellent coordination between the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces in the operations against IS,” the KRP report concluded.

The Kurdistan Region’s referendum has been opposed vigorously by Baghdad, neighboring countries, and the international community.

The Kurdish leadership has stressed the vote did not violate the Iraqi Constitution, international law, or the UN Charter because people peacefully and democratically decided on their future.

An independent Kurdistan has been the long-awaited aspiration of over 40 million stateless Kurds around the world.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany