image People wave Iraqi Kurdish flags as they listen to Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013. Barzani is in Turkey to support Turkish government's Kurdish peace process.(AP Photo)

Kurds in Iraq and Syria separately, seek independence

The northern autonomous Kurdish region declared it would hold a referendum on independence on the 25th of September, brushing aside international warnings, including from Turkey, that it could trigger conflict with the Iraqi government in Baghdad. President Barzani, who was interviewed on the matter last month, stressed a warning that the Kurdish nation will do all in its power to foil attempts by anyone who will seek to thwart their national bid.

Turkey, which is the most significant opponent of an independent Kurdistan, warned that at a time of turmoil a nation should think twice before risking a civil conflict that may lead to more chaos. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a televised interview, “When the country faces many problems, an independence referendum would worsen the situation. God forbid, it could even lead to a civil war. This is serious. We have clearly told them we are against this referendum and they shouldn’t hold it. We will continue to say that,” Cavusoglu said.

Meanwhile in Syria, Kurdish groups in the north of the war-torn-country, including militias allied in the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, have also announced they would hold local council and regional assembly elections in a move apparently aimed at consolidating the growing Kurdish autonomy in the north of Syria.

In response to the declaration, a senior Syrian government minister dismissed the Kurdish attempt as a “joke”, while warning that they would not be allowed to threaten the country’s territorial unity.
Kurdish groups and their allies control swathes of northern Syria, in areas held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of militias spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, which are currently battling the Islamic State. At the end of July, the Kurdish-led administration set dates between late summer and January for local council and regional assembly elections in areas under their control.