ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A Syrian minister is opposed to the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum bid to separate from Iraq, claiming the timing is not suitable as both sides are in a war and it is an “external meddling.”
“In this situation, this referendum is not suitable as Iraq and the Kurdistan Region are in the state of war against terror and their priority should be focused on eliminating terror as ISIS represents the world terror,” Ali Haider, the State Minister for National Reconciliation Affairs in Syria, told Rudaw by phone.
As ISIS militants are being pushed out of their largest urban stronghold in Mosul, Haider said Kurds in Kurdistan Region are trying to “impose a de facto” state if they currently insist on holding a referendum in order to implement the independence project at any point in the future.
“We are nations having been living on this land together for thousands years and that share the same destiny,” Haider said. “Any scenario or attempt active on the ground is an external meddling aimed dividing the region into pieces."
“Kurds have in the history proved they have played a considerable role in the region. They have all the rights which should be guaranteed within the context of a social contract.”
Haider said even if the independence of the Kurdistan Region is not declared now, it could be in the future as “Iraq is in the state of war.”
He spoke about any nation in the world having the right to self-determination.
“As principle and according to international agreements and declarations, every nation has the right to determine its fate, but each country has its own particular statues," he said.