Independence of Iraqi Kurdistan would further complicate Sykes-Picot instability: Turkey's AKP

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has suggested that the prospective independence of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would "further complicate the picture" in a region destabilized by the "artificial borders of the Sykes-Picot agreement" of 1916.

AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik said the Sykes-Picot agreement, the centennial of which will be marked in May, drew "artificial borders" that have had a destabilizing impact on the entire Middle East. 

The Sykes-Picot agreement between Britain and France of 1916 did not actually draw the boundaries of the region, but it did seek to carve out spheres of influence from the ruins of the crumbling Ottoman Empire during the First World War. 

"In my opinion, debating the issue in terms of allowing or not allowing new states to be built would only lead to the further reinforcement of the artificial agenda that Sykes-Picot created," Çelik told reporters on Feb. 4, commenting on Feb. 3 comments by Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani who said the "time has come" for the  Kurds of northern Iraq to hold a referendum on statehood.

"What we need to consider in this region is how all ethnic groups and all sectarian groups can create new zones of prosperity that go beyond borders, while also respecting existing borders, new freedoms, new political approaches and new cultural integrations. So we believe that [holding a referendum] would not be very appropriate," Çelik added. 

Barzani, who has made similar calls in the past, did not specify when any vote would take place.

"The time has come and the conditions are now suitable for the people to make a decision through a referendum on their future," Barzani said in a statement released on Feb. 3.

"This...