'There will be a price to pay' if KRG insists on referendum: Turkish Foreign Ministry

Turkey has warned Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region that "there will most certainly be a price to pay" for its insistence on holding an independence referendum later this month.

A Foreign Ministry statement released on Sept. 14 also welcomed the Iraqi parliament vote that rejected the planned Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) referendum on Sept. 25 as unconstitutional.

"The [Kurdish region] should be aware that there will most certainly be a price to pay for insisting on its approach for a referendum despite all our friendly recommendations," the statement said, without elaborating.

It described the KRG leadership's "increasingly emotional statements" in favor of independence as "alarming."