Iraqi PM: Kurdistan referendum 'play with fire'

BAGHDAD - 16 September 2017: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi on Saturday reiterated rejection of a planned referendum on independence of Kurdistan, terming it "a play with fire".

"The referendum will open the door for world countries not to respect the Iraqi constitution or boundaries," Abadi was quoted by local media as saying.

Slated for September 25, the controversial voting has drawn national and foreign calls to be adjourned, while neighboring countries including Turkey fear it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities.

Abadi said the Kurdish step is "a play with fire" that endangers "all the gains of the Iraqi Kurdish people".

He called for solving "the problem between the region and the federal government in a friendly not separatist way."