Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi demanded a cancellation of the referendum and the peshmerga to withdraw from Kirkuk, threatening “Do you want war?” Nechirvan Barzani said, “We want a solution through dialogue with Baghdad.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi spoke in the Iraqi Parliament’s session on the referendum held in Southern Kurdistan and demanded “a cancellation of the referendum” and “the peshmerga to withdraw from Kirkuk”.
Iraqi Chief of Staff and head of Iraqi intelligence were also present in the session where Abadi said they “don’t recognize the referendum and want it to be annulled”.
Abadi also demanded the peshmerga to withdraw from Kirkuk and “disputed areas” and said: “I am calling on the Kurdish leaders, tell us if you want war or not.”
Southern Kurdistan Regional Prime Minister Nêchirvan Barzani said, “We don’t want an independence that would lead to war. We want a solution through dialogue with Baghdad.”
Barzani also spoke about Erdoğan’s comments of “We hold the valve for the oil, if we shut it off, it’s done,” and said, “We do have an agreement signed with Turkey.”
“We don’t want the referendum to be considered a threat against Turkish national security,” said Barzani and added: “Our relationship with Turkey goes back a long time, and it will continue. We will absolutely not change the border. The border will remain as is. We want to develop the dialogue with Turkey.”
