Turkey: Iraq's Kurds will pay 'price' for independence vote
Sep 14, 2017
Turkey has warned Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region that there will "certainly" be a "price to pay" for its insistence on holding an independence referendum later this month
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has warned Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region that "there will most certainly be a price to pay" for its insistence on holding an independence referendum later this month.
A Foreign Ministry statement released Thursday also welcomed an Iraqi parliament vote that rejected the Sept. 25 referendum as unconstitutional.
The statement said: "The (Kurdish region) should be aware that there will most certainly be a price to pay for insisting on its approach for a referendum despite all our friendly recommendations." The statement did not elaborate.
It described the Iraqi Kurdish leadership's "increasingly emotional statements" in favor of independence as "alarming."
Turkey, which has a large Kurdish population and is battling Kurdish insurgents, has forged close ties to Iraq's autonomous region but opposes an independent Kurdish state.
