Russian foreign minister calls for Iraq-Kurd dialogue

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calls for dialogue between the Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad, warning that tensions following last month’s Kurdish independence referendum should not become “another source of instability.”

“We understand the hopes of Kurdish people to strive and strengthen their identity… but it would be right to realize these hopes through dialogue with the Iraqi government,” Lavrov says after talks with Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

He says the issue should be addressed “with consideration of the need to avoid creating another source of instability in the region.”

Iraqi Kurds on September 25 voted overwhelmingly for independence in a poll set in motion by longtime regional leader Masoud Barzani and strongly opposed by Baghdad.

Central government forces last week swept into the oil-rich Kirkuk province, restoring it and Kurdish-held parts of Nineveh and Diyala provinces to Baghdad’s control.

— AFP