Iraqi president launches initiative to resolve Kurdish referendum crisis

Iraqi President Fuad Masum on Saturday launched an initiative between the political leaders in Baghdad and Erbil to resolve the crisis of holding referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and disputed areas slated for Sept. 25.
"We decided to launch an initiative for dialogue and start by inviting leaders of political parties to hold intensive meetings to reach concrete and urgent solutions to overcome this crisis," Masum said in a statement issued by his office.
"We want to work together to achieve common goals and address the shortcomings and mistakes, no matter how intense differences of views and positions," the statement said.
Iraq is facing a political crisis that threatens to put the political process and national interests of the country at risk, the president said.
The situation entails calling on all concerned parties in the federal and regional authorities to confront such threats by solving the outstanding issues, he added.
On Sept. 15, Iraq's Kurdish regional President Masoud Barzani vowed to go ahead with the independence referendum, ignoring calls to postpone the controversial move.
On June 7, Barzani announced his intention to hold a referendum on the independence of the Kurdish region and the disputed areas outside the region on Sept. 25.
Disagreements between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government have been high for years, as the ethnic Kurds consider the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk and parts of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahudin provinces as disputed areas and want them to be incorporated into their region.
The referendum has been opposed by Baghdad because it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and would distract the ongoing fight against Islamic State militants by Iraqi forces.
The neighboring countries of Turkey, Iran and Syria also feel that the move would threaten their territorial integrity, as large numbers of Kurdish population live in those countries.

source: Xinhua