Iraqi VP:

KRG President Agrees to Cancel Result of Kurdish Referendum

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iraq's Vice President Ayad Allawi announced that Masoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), has agreed to cancel the result of the recent independence referendum held in the Kurdistan Region.

News ID: 66456

Date: 16 October 2017 - 13:44

Speaking to the Arabic-language Alsumaria news agency, Allawi said recently, Barzani wrote a letter to him, saying that he has agreed to postpone or cancel any decision made following the independence referendum.

"In the letter, Barzani has said to me that he is seeking for unconditional negotiations with the central government and agrees with the constitution,” the Iraqi vice-president said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Allawi emphasized that he does not support recent measures taken by the Baghdad government against the Kurdistan Region.

The two sides have been at loggerheads since the Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence on September 25 that Baghdad declared illegal.

On Sunday, Kurdish leaders had rejected a demand by Baghdad to cancel the outcome of the referendum as a precondition for talks to resolve the dispute, according to media reports.

Iraq’s Kurds rushed headlong into a vote for independence, although neighbors and countries in the Middle East, including Iran and Turkey, voiced opposition to the vote and supported the Baghdad central government.