Iraq’s prime minister demanded on Thursday that Kurds declare their independence referendum void, rejecting the Kurdish autonomous region’s offer to suspend its independence push to resolve a crisis through talks. “We won’t accept anything but its cancellation and the respect of the Constitution,” Haider al-Abadi said in a statement during a visit to Tehran. The Kurds have been swiftly making concessions to Baghdad since last week, when Abadi sent his forces to seize all Kurdish-held territory outside of three autonomous provinces. A startlingly rapid advance by government troops transformed the balance of power in northern Iraq within a matter of days and has wrecked decades-old dreams of Kurdish independence that had come to a head last month with a referendum on secession. Baghdad has always considered the Kurdish secession referendum illegal.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 26, 2017 11:15 UTC