US Senate Majority Leader 'Applauds Turkey For Welcoming Kurdish Independence'

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid 'applauded Turkey's move to welcome an independent Kurdistan on its border' during an interview with The Huffington Post on June 19.

Reid reportedly said the U.S. online news outlet that whether the Kurds break away from Iraq and form their own country is a decision that will ultimately have to be made by actors in the region.

Turkey, however, had long been opposed, until a recent reversal. "I think it's great that Turkey put their imprimatur over this," Reid said. "It's good they did that, gave it their blessing, but the ultimate division of their country, if in fact there is one, has to come from Iraqis."

Last week, a spokesman for Turkey's ruling party told a Kurdish media outlet that the Kurds in Iraq have the right to self-determination. 

"The Kurds of Iraq can decide for themselves the name and type of the entity they are living in," Hüseyin Çelik, spokesman for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), had reportedly told the Kurdish online news outlet Rudaw.

Click here to read the full story on the Huffington Post