Kurdistan Regional Government

Iraqi Kurds are set to vote in a referendum on Sept. 25 on independence for the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), despite warnings from within the country, Turkey, Iran and the international community.

The Turkish parliament on Sept. 23 approved the extension of a mandate permitting the government to deploy troops to Iraq and Syria for another year, just two days before the scheduled referendum to be held by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 

The Turkish Armed Forces on Sept. 23 increased the level of a drill it has been conducting near the Iraqi border for the past six days as additional troops were deployed. According to military sources, the drill was increased to the "second phase" on Sept. 23.

The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) region does not only accommodate Kurds, but also Turkmens and Arabs, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed on his way back from New York, when questioned about the planned independence referendum in the region. 

Immediately after his return from the United States, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a key security meeting and then chaired the cabinet in order to announce Turkey's counter-measures against the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) bid to vote for independence on Sept. 25. 

We do not yet know whether U.S. President Donald Trump's Sept. 21 message - in which he said he had "become close friends" with President Tayyip Erdoğan and relations between the two countries were "at their best level ever" - really is good news for those hoping for an improvement in Turkish-American relations.

American writers in Turkey infamously get their ideas from our taxi drivers, so I make a point of returning the favor when I am in the U.S. Usually, you say the name of your country and the taxi driver tells you what that name currently resonates with in the capitol.

With days left to controversial independence referendum of Iraqi Kurds, the Turkish government will seek a mandate from the Parliament to send troops to Iraq and Syria after consecutive security meetings where measures to be taken against the Arbil administration have been decided. 

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) hinted at supporting the parliamentary motion of a one-year mandate authorizing the deployment of the Turkish army abroad, "if it will be about counter-terrorism," while the Kurdish issue-focused People's Democratic Party (HDP) is against the motion.

Relations between Turkey and the United States are "the closest we've ever been," U.S. President Donald Trump has said, as he praised President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for "running a very difficult part of the world."

Meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 21, Trump hailed Erdoğan's leadership in Turkey and said Erdoğan "has become a friend of mine."