Iraq’s prime minister insisted on Thursday that the Kurdish independence referendum be declared void, an apparent rejection of the Kurdistan region’s offer to “freeze” its independence push as part of efforts to resolve the crisis through talks. “We won’t accept anything but its cancellation and the respect of the Constitution,” Haider al-Abadi said in a statement . Baghdad has always considered the Kurdish secession referendum illegal. Abadi has ordered his army to recapture all disputed territory and has demanded central control of Iraq’s border crossings with Turkey, at Fish-Khabur, located inside the Kurdish autonomous region. Fish-Khabur is strategically vital because oil from both Kurdish and government-held parts of northern Iraq crosses via a pipeline there into Turkey, the main route out of the area for the exports that are crucial to any Kurdish independence bid.

Source: Egypt Independent October 26, 2017 07:41 UTC