Fallon urges Iraqi Kurds to stop referendum

Surprise visit by Defence Secretary for talks with president as tensions rise ahead of controversial vote

SIR MICHAEL FALLON, the Defence Secretary, yesterday met with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan in a last-ditch attempt to persuade him to call off his planned referendum on independence.

During a surprise visit to Iraq, Sir Michael renewed Britain’s rejection of the vote, which it sees as a distraction from the war on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) militants who continue to occupy parts of Iraq and Syria.

“We are committed to the integrity of Iraq. We are working with the UN on alternatives to this referendum,” he said as he arrived in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan.

Masoud Barzani was last week presented with an alternative to the Sept 25 vote by delegates from the UK, US and UN.

It offered to sponsor talks with Baghdad over territorial disputes, as well as disagreements over the distribution of oil revenues from the region.

However, it is thought it fell short of Mr Barzani’s demands.

The president spent the weekend addressing large rallies across the Kurdish region to reassure supporters the controversial referendum would go ahead as planned.

Iraq’s supreme court stepped in yesterday, ordering the suspension of the referendum while it examines whether the plebiscite would be constitutional.

Baghdad is angered about the inclusion of Kirkuk in the vote, a contested oil-rich city which lies between Iraq and Kurdistan.

Haider al-abadi, Iraq’s prime minister, said that he is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish region’s referendum results in violence.

Kurdistan’s neighbours have also reacted with fury at the vote, with tensions rising further yesterday. Turkey, which harbours fears of Kurdish separatism on its own territory, carried out military exercises at the Iraqi border yesterday. In a clear show of force, dozens of tanks were massed on its southern frontier.

Meanwhile, Iran, home to some seven million Kurds, warned of a border blockade and military action if Iraqi Kurds went ahead with their plans.

Kurds, the largest stateless ethnic group in the world, have held a decades-long ambition for independence.