BAGHDAD (AP) — Turkey’s prime minister says the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region’s offer to freeze the results of the referendum on independence won’t redress the “devastation” the vote has caused in Iraq.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim spoke on Thursday, a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Turkey to discuss possible steps against the Iraqi Kurdish leaders.
Yildirim told reporters the two sides discussed the possible opening of a border gate between Iraq and Turkey that would by bypass the Iraqi Kurdish region.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, described the Kurdish “freeze” offer as “insufficient” and called on Kurdish leaders to cancel the results, which overwhelmingly backed independence from Baghdad.
Turkey, which is fighting a Kurdish insurgency on its territory, strongly opposed the Iraqi Kurds moves toward independence. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday offered Turkish support for the reopening of a pipeline that would allow the central Iraqi government to export oil directly to Turkey, bypassing the Iraqi Kurdish region.
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