Kurdish referendum discussed in Putin’s conversations with Erdogan, Rouhani - spokesman

MOSCOW, September 26./TASS/. The situation around the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum was discussed in telephone conversations of Russian President Vladimir Putin with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts - Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. "This issue was discussed in the telephone conversations," Peskov confirmed in reply to the question without elaborating. "In this case Russia’s stance did not see any changes, we still believe that maintaining territorial and political integrity of the states is extremely important for stability and security in the region, as well as for the settlement of the acute problems that are in abundance in the (Middle East) region," he said. A referendum on independence for the Kurdistan region of Iraq was held on Monday. The final results are due within the next few days, but preliminary results are already clear after more than 280,000 out of 3.3 million votes have been counted. They show that 95% said "yes" to independence. The prime minister of the autonomous Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani, said the Kurdish leadership does not intend to declare intendance immediately, but is ready for a dialogue with the government in Baghdad and also with the neighboring states. Iraqi Kurdistan is an unofficial name of the autonomous Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq, whose legal status is fixed in the Iraqi Constitution of 2005. The Iraqi government was against the referendum which it deems unconstitutional. Ankara and Tehran were also against, favoring the unity of the Arab country. Washington and some other European countries also believe the referendum is inexpedient at the moment, as it undermines efforts towards anti-terrorist fight and regional security. Read more