Kurdish Regional Government to hold independence referendum on June 12
ERBIL - Reuters
Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on June 8 announced it
would hold a referendum on independence, in a move the central government in
Baghdad is likely to oppose strongly.
"I am pleased to announce that the date for the
independence referendum has been set for Monday, Sept. 25, 2017," Kurdish leader
Massoud Barzani said on Twitter.
Barzani's assistant Hemin Hawrami tweeted that voting would take
place in the disputed region of Kirkuk and three other areas also claimed by
the central government; Makhmour in the north, Sinjar in the northwest and
Khanaqin in the east.
The president of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite coalition told Reuters
in April it would oppose a Kurdish referendum. Ammar al-Hakim especially warned
the Kurds against any move to annex oil-rich Kirkuk.
The referendum date was set after a meeting of Kurdish political
parties chaired by Barzani, who heads the autonomous Kurdish Regional
Government (KRG).
Hawrami said the question put to voters would be "do
you want an independent Kurdistan?"
A senior Kurdish official, Hoshiyar Zebari, told Reuters in April
the expected "yes" vote would strengthen the Kurds' hand in talks on
self-determination with Baghdad and would not mean automatically declaring
independence.