Turkey 'will not allow fait accompli' in Iraq's north

Ankara has once again stressed that it will not allow any fait accompli in northern Iraq and will take all necessary measures against the independence referendum to be held by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sept. 25.

The Turkish Armed Forces expanded the scope of the military exercise it launched on Sept. 18 on the Iraqi border near the Habur Border Gate, in parallel with the government's harshened rhetoric on the KRG's bid. 

"Turkey will not allow fait accompli in northern Iraq. The world stood up, we stood up [against the referendum]. Arabs and Turkmens rejected it and even Kurds in the region are against it," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said at a ceremony marking the start of the academic year at Bozok University in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat on Sept. 19.

Despite opposition from the world as well as the United Nations, the "sick mentality" in northern Iraq seems to be determined in holding the referendum, Bozdağ said. 

"These kinds of steps in the region will ruin regional security and will shatter comfort, peace and stability. Not only the region but all countries in the region will be negatively affected by it and no one can tolerate this," he added. 

Recalling that Turkey has always supported the KRG until now through good neighborly relations amid economic stability, Bozdağ stressed it will continue to do so "if Arbil moves forward with good intentions." 

"But if they go ahead to hold the referendum despite all these warnings, then it will surely be responded to. Our president has declared: 'We will hold our cabinet meeting right after the National Security Council on Friday [Sept. 22] and will announce our last steps to the world," he said, vowing that Ankara would ...