US Senate majority leader 'applauds Turkey for welcoming Kurdish independence'

WASHINGTON

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) talks to reporters after the Senate Democratic policy luncheon in Washington, DC on June 17. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid applauded "Turkey's move to welcome an independent Kurdistan on its border" during an interview with The Huffington Post on June 19.

Reid reportedly told the U.S. online news outlet that if the Kurds break away from Iraq and form their own country it will ultimately be a decision made by actors in the region.

"I think it's great that Turkey put their imprimatur over this. It's good they did that, gave it their blessing, but the ultimate division of their country, if in fact there is one, has to come from Iraqis," he said.

Last week, a spokesman for Turkey's ruling party told a Kurdish media outlet that the Kurds in Iraq "have the right to self-determination." 

"The Kurds of Iraq can decide for themselves the name and type of the entity they are living in," Hüseyin Çelik, a spokesman for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), reportedly told the Kurdish online news outlet Rudaw.

Click here to read the full story on the Huffington Post