international
Iraqi Kurds put referendum on ice
The violence and tension which followed the independence referendum held in Iraqi Kurdistan on September25, has forced the regional government in Erbil to “freeze” the results of the consultation, in which 70% of the electorate voted with 93% voting in favour of independence. “The dangerous situation and the tension between the Iraqi forces and the Peshmergas oblige us all to accept the historical responsibility to stop the situation from worsening into a confrontation with Iraqi forces,” a Kurdistan official said in a statement. The text was published after the prime minister of Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani admitted that the military operations by the Iraqi army were complicating efforts to initiate a dialogue. Barzani said the authorities were willing to send a delegation to Baghdad to start talks and “open a new page,” and stressed that problems should be resolved “peacefully”.