Iraqi
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says the planned Kurdish referendum on
independence from the Arab country is “unconstitutional,” warning
that the Kurds are "illegally" exporting Iraq's oil.
Parliament
Speaker Salim al-Jabouri said the vote made it incumbent on the
government to “take all steps to protect the unity of Iraq and
open a serious dialog” with Kurdish officials. The vote
prompted Kurdish lawmakers to quit the parliament floor.
Abadi
also stated that Kurdish authorities were illegally extracting crude
oil from the oil-rich territories in the northern province of Kirkuk
and continued exporting the invaluable national resource. He did not
give further details.
The
Kurdish referendum is scheduled for September 25, but the central
government in Baghdad is strongly opposed to the vote. Iran, Turkey
and Syria also oppose the idea of an independent Kurdistan. In June,
Tehran expressed opposition to the “unilateral” scheme for
independence of the Iraqi Kurdistan, underlining the importance of
maintaining the integrity and stability of Iraq and insisting that
the Kurdistan region was part of the majority Arab country.
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