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Turkey's Erdogan: Iraq Should Avoid Independence Vote

by Reuters

   Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday it was increasingly
   important that neighboring Iraq remain a unified country and said a
   planned Kurdish referendum on independence should not go ahead.

   Authorities in Kurdish northern Iraq have announced an independence
   referendum on Sept. 25, and the president of the Kurdistan Regional
   Government told Reuters last week there could be no turning back on the
   bid for an independent Kurdish state.

   "The importance of Iraq's territorial integrity is increasing by the
   day," Erdogan told a petroleum conference in Istanbul. "They should
   refrain from unilateral steps, such as an independence referendum".