‘More talks likely on Kurdish referendum’

BAGHDAD / ERBIL / Reuters

A delegation representing Iraq’s ruling Shi’ite coalition may meet Kurdish politicians again next week to try to convince them to delay or cancel a plan to hold an independence referendum, a negotiator said.
A first round of talks, held last week in Baghdad, brought the two sides closer and a second round could be held next week in the Kurdish capital Erbil, Abdullah al-Zaidi, a negotiator from the National Alliance, Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim ruling coalition, told Reuters evening.
The Kurdish delegation held separate meetings last week with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the National Alliance, in addition to other political parties in Baghdad.
A Kurdish official, Mala Bakhtiar, told Reuters the possibility of postponing a planned Sept. 25 referendum on independence could be considered in return for financial and political concessions from the central government in Baghdad.
The United States and other Western nations fear the vote could ignite a new conflict with Baghdad and possibly neighbouring countries, diverting attention from the ongoing war against IS militants in Iraq and Syria. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson formally asked Massoud Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), two weeks ago to postpone the referendum. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to press Barzani again to call off the referendum when they meet in Erbil, the Kurdish capital in northern Iraq, a US official traveling with him told Reuters.