Iraqi Kurd leader Barzani says ‘yes’ vote won independence referendum

He calls on Iraq’s central government to engage in “serious dialogue ...instead of threatening” the Kurdistan Regional Government with sanctions.

An Iraqi Kurdish woman uses her ink-stained finger to point at a map of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, painted with the colours of the Kurdish flag, after voting in the independence referendum in the region’s capital Erbil on September 25, 2017.

Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani said on September 26 the “yes” vote had won in the independence referendum the KRG held in northern Iraq on September 25.

In a televised address, he called on Iraq’s central government in Baghdad to engage in “serious dialogue ...instead of threatening” the KRG with sanctions. Iraq’s Prime Minister has ruled out holding talks on Kurdish independence. “We may face hardship but we will overcome,” Mr. Barzani said, calling on world powers “to respect the will of millions of people” who voted in the referendum.