Iraq’s Vice Prsident Nouri Maliki who has increasingly strong ties to both Moscow and Tehran, has just reaffirmed his nation’s opposition to Kurdish separatism.
Maliki stated,
“We will not allow the establishment of another Israel in northern Iraq”.
Here, the Iraqi Vice President referenced the fact that Israel is the only country in the region and the wider world to un-ambiguously support Kurdish separatism. The United States, while working closely with Kurdish militants in Syria and having a long history of supporting Kurdish separatists in Iraq, has attempted to quill the issue so as not to lose what decreasing support it has in Baghdad.
Turkey, Iran and Syria are also roundly opposed to regional Kurdish separatism in any one country for fear that it may create a domino effect across the wider region.
Self-defined Kurdish regions of Northern Iraq are set to hold a separatism referendum on the 25th of September.
In spite of both Russia and the US encouraging a postponement of the referendum in order to foster dialogue between Baghdad and Kurdish nationalists, Kurdish rebels have confirmed that they intend to go through with their referendum.
Recently, the Kurdish nationalists have held large rallies in support of a vote for separatism.
The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has previously warned that Kurdish separatists are “playing with fire” if they proceed with the vote.
READ MORE: Israel could regret its support for Kurds
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