Kurdistan Regional Government

Global crude prices have hit a three-week high as the conflict between Iraqi and Kurdish forces intensifies. Iraqi troops are advancing on the city of Kirkuk, reportedly seizing the region's oil fields.

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6 percent to $52.29 per barrel, setting it on track for its highest settlement price since the end of September, according to FactSet data.

Iraqi government forces captured the major Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk on Monday, responding to a Kurdish referendum on independence with a bold lightning strike that transforms the balance of power in the country, Reuters.

Iraq's central bank on Wednesday eased financial restrictions imposed on the Kurdistan region over its independence vote after receiving a pledge of cooperation from Kurdish banks, an Iraqi banking source said.

All but four Kurdish-owned banks were allowed to resume dollar and foreign currency transfers on Wednesday, the source told Reuters.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement on Friday that the United States Government does not recognize the referendum for independence held earlier in the week by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

He also urged all groups with a stake in referendum on Iraqi Kurdistan's independence to reject the use of force.

The president of Iraq’s Kurdish region warned on Friday that the Kurds might be forced to retaliate if the central government persists with what his spokesman called a “very aggressive” stance toward the pro-independence referendum.

Turkey held a security meeting on Sept. 27 at the helm of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as tensions rise in the region over an Iraqi Kurdish referendum for independence.

Turkey has issued a new travel warning to Turkish nationals after Turkey's consulate in Arbil announced that Turkish airline companies will halt flying to northern Iraq after 6:00 p.m. on Friday Sept. 29 until further notice at the request of Baghdad, following a referendum for independence held by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım spoke on the phone with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi to discuss the Sept. 25 independence referendum in the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a Prime Ministry source said on Sept. 27.  

Turkey told Iraq it would deal only with the Iraqi government on crude oil exports, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sept. 28.

Tough and complex situations should be analyzed through the lens of experience and common sense. The recent article "The path that Turkey should take as the Kurdistan referendum takes place," written by retired ambassadors Osman Korutürk and Selim Karaosmanoğlu for the OdaTV website, is a piece that we should all read carefully nowadays.