The Iraqi province of Kirkuk will take part in the referendum on the independence of Kurdistan. About it reports Reuters.
The decision, as stated by the Governor Najmuddin Karim, took the provincial Council. The Agency reminds that the province is home to a large number of Arabs and Turkomans, and the decision to participate in the plebiscite could lead to an increase in ethnic tensions.
The oil-rich province of Kirkuk, a disputed region. The authorities of the Autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan in control of its territory and consider the Kurdish land, while the official Baghdad claims that Kirkuk was never part of Kurdistan. Authorities in Erbil said earlier that the decision to participate in the plebiscite must take the regional Council.
The referendum, scheduled for September 25, Iraqi authorities believe to be unconstitutional. His conviction was also made by Turkey, while the United States asked the leadership of Iraqi Kurdistan to postpone the plebiscite. The Kurds refused, declaring that it will hold as scheduled.