Abadi threatens military intervention if Kurdish independence poll turns violent
Iraqi forces are prepared to intervene if the Kurdish region’s planned independence referendum results in violence, prime minister Haider Al Abadi said.
If the Iraqi population is “threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily”, Mr Al Abadi said.
The semi-autonomous Kurdish region plans to hold the referendum on independence from Iraq on September 25 in its three governorates, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces but which are claimed by Baghdad.
“If you challenge the constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation,” Mr Al Abadi said.
He was responding to Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani’s threats of violence if the Iraqi military or government-backed militias tried to move into disputed territories that are now under the control of Kurdish militias.
Yesterday, Fuad Masum, the Iraqi president, cancelled his attendance at the UN General Assembly in New York to try to resolve the referendum dispute.
Mr Masum asked Mr Al Abadi to attend the UN meeting as he faced “a deep political crisis that could result in adverse impacts on the national interests if it is left unsolved”, his office said.
The leaders of Iraq’s Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path to independence.
But Mr Al Abadi said the vote would complicate such talks.
“It will make it harder and more difficult,” he said, but added: “I will never close the door to negotiations. Negotiations are always possible.”
The oil-rich city of Kirkuk is likely to be a major point of contention. The province has voted to take part in the referendum
“It’s chaotic there,” said Muhammad Al Bayati, a senior leader of Iraq’s mostly Shiite fighters known as the Hashed Al Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces.
Mr Al Bayati’s forces are stationed around Kirkuk and other disputed territories in Iraq’s north, where he said “anything could be the spark that burns it all down”.
Iraq’s Kurds have come under increasing pressure from
the US to call off the vote. America has backed them since enforcing a no-fly zone in the north after the Gulf War, which allowed the minority to establish a regional government in 1992.
The White House has called for the Kurdish region to start “serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad”.
“Holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilising,” it said.
Neighbouring countries are also condemning the vote, wary of how it might influence regional politics with Kurdish populations of their own that also aspire to greater independence.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would discuss his concerns with Mr Al Abadi during his visit to the US.
“From what we can see our goal is the same. Our goal is not dividing Iraq,” Mr Erdogan said.
Turkey is home to the largest Kurdish population in the world and has been battling an insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers Party militants in the south-west of the country since the 1980s.
Iran also voiced opposition to the referendum, saying independence could spark a situation that would “disrupt security”. Senior Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati said Tehran was “the strategic ally of Iraq and will agree to what the legitimate government of the country accepts”.
Mr Al Abadi said he is focused on legal responses to the referendum. This week parliament rejected the referendum in a vote boycotted by Kurdish MPs.
“If [Iraq’s Kurds] want to go along that road, they should work towards amending the constitution,” Mr Al Abadi told Associated Press on Saturday.
“In that case we have to go all the way through parliament and a referendum to the whole Iraqi people.”
Neighbouring countries also condemned the vote, fearful of how it might influence regional politics