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The President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani is determined to hold the Kurdish Independence referendum slated for September 25. It appears virtually nothing may prevent him from proceeding with vote, despite objections of number of states, turkologist Mushegh Khudaverdyan told Panorama.am, when asked to comment on the upcoming vote.

“As media reports suggested even Iran sent an envoy, reportedly a general, to urge Barzani to change his mind. Turkey in turn strongly opposes the referendum, threatening with counter measures,” the expert noted.

Khudaverdyan reminded that Turkish authorities had concerns about the spillover effect of the independence of Iraqi Kurds, considering large number of its own Kurdish population.  

“The U.S approach, however, remains unclear regarding the upcoming referendum. The United States voiced objections at the official level, yet number of Republicans have admitted the possibility of the referendum should Barzani meet number of preconditions,” Khudaverdyan said, pointing to objections by the opposition of the Kurdistan Regional Government that points out to ‘inappropriate period” and warns against blood to be spilled. “Yet Barzani announced readiness to conduct the referendum at a cost of even a bloodshed to turn the long-awaited dream of the Kurds into reality,” the expert explained. 

The turkologist reminded that irrespective of the referendum outcome and international recognition of the vote results, the Iraqi Kurdistan positions itself as a self-sustainable country with authorities, army and special services.