Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, in Erbil's Pirmam district.

According to the statement made by the Iraqi Kurdistan Presidency, it is stated that Çavuşoğlu has conveyed the greetings of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım to Barzani.

“With regard to the referendum, Minister Çavuşoğlu expressed his country’s concern that the referendum would form a problem in this process and that the stability in the region would be prevented,” referring to his country's understanding of the rights and the sufferings of the Kurdish people.

Çavuşoğlu said his country wants to be an intermediary in solving the problems between Erbil and Baghdad in international public opinion.

“The responsibility of the current problems is not the people of Kurdistan, but the wrong politics carried out by the Iraqi government”

Barzani in the interview told Çavuşoğlu the reasons for the decision to give a referendum. “President Barzani made clear to the guest foreign minister the reasons for the referendum decision, and the history of the suffering of the people of Kurdistan in the Iraqi state has turned to the past. President Barzani said that after 2003, efforts were made to open a new page with Iraq in accordance with the Constitution, but after the violation of the constitution and partnership, the Kurdish people despair for the Iraqi government. The responsibility of the current problems is not the people of Kurdistan, but the wrong politics carried out by the Iraqi government said President Barzani and added that the referendum decision was a natural, democratic and peaceful decision of the people of Kurdistan and that despite the failure of the partnership with Iraq, Kurdistan and Iraq would be two good neighbors.” (ILKHA)