Turkey to tell Iraqi Kurds independence vote wrong, foreign minister says

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday he would tell Iraqi Kurdish officials later in the day their decision to hold an independence referendum was wrong and that Ankara expects it to cancel the vote.

The United States and other Western nations fear the vote could ignite a new conflict with Baghdad and possibly neighbouring countries, diverting attention from the ongoing war against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria.

"Our expectation from Erbil is clear, that is the cancellation of the referendum, as the interests and future of the Kurds lies in a united Iraq," Cavusoglu told a news conference in Baghdad, broadcast on Turkish television, before travelling to Erbil in northern Iraq.

Kurds have been seeking an independent state since at least the end of World War One, when colonial powers divided up the Middle East and left Kurdish-populated territory split between modern-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Those countries oppose an independent Kurdistan. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government has rejected the planned referendum as "unilateral" and unconstitutional.

A delegation representing Iraq's ruling Shi'ite coalition may meet Kurdish politicians again next week to try to convince them to delay or cancel the referendum plan, a negotiator told Reuters on Monday evening.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)