Iraq threatens Kurds with army intervention over referendum

HAIDER AL-ABADI, the Iraqi prime minister, has said he is prepared to use military force if the Kurdish region’s planned independence referendum results in violence.

“If they are threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily,” he said.

He repeated his call for the Kurdish authorities to cancel the referendum, saying they were “playing with fire” and risked inviting other countries to violate Iraqi borders and its constitution. The referendum is scheduled for September 25 in the three governorates that make up the Kurdish autonomous region and in some disputed areas that are controlled by the Kurdish authorities but claimed by Baghdad.

The United States has urged the Kurds to call off the “particularly provocative and destabilising” vote and called for the Kurdish region to “enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad”.

Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish region, has also threatened to use military force should Iraqi forces or militias allied to the government attempt to enter the disputed areas.

The Kurdish authorities have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to create a path for statehood, but Iraq said negotiations were being complicated by the referendum.