A top official of Turkey’s main opposition has blasted the decision by Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) head Masoud Barzani to hold an illegitimate independence referendum, calling it "irresponsible and provocative".
"Statements since day one have made it evident that it had no international legitimacy," Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Ozturk Yılmaz told Anadolu Agency.
"A difficult process -- one including Turkey -- has begun," said the opposition lawmaker of the aftermath of Monday’s illegitimate referendum by northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).
The illegitimate referendum saw Iraqis in KRG-controlled areas -- and in a handful of territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, including ethnically mixed Mosul and Kirkuk -- vote on whether or not to declare independence.
Numerous Turkmen, Arab, and Christian groups living in disputed areas of Iraq boycotted the illegitimate referendum.
Along with Iraq’s central government, Turkey, the U.S., Iran, and the UN spoke out against the illegitimate poll, saying it would distract from the ongoing fight against Daesh and further destabilize the region.
The CHP lawmaker said the illegitimate vote had worsened regional tensions, adding: "Though it has not reached the point of warmongering, I would like to express the CHP's concerns about some small incident possibly lighting the fuse due to the instability in the region."
"The CHP never wants to wage war. Nevertheless, Barzani has taken a very irresponsible and provocative step. This step will not strengthen the KRG's hand for legitimacy but rather weaken it," he said.
Yılmaz spoke in favor of joint action in the aftermath of Monday, saying: "We have suggested that the government establish a crisis mechanism and joint consultation between Turkey, Iran, and Iraq's central administration. Though it has not been officially named, we are seeing some steps towards this... I hope that a process of longstanding conflict is not triggered in the region once again due to the Kurdish central administration, as it did with Israel."
The CHP lawmaker, who once served as Turkey's consul in the ethnically mixed city of Mosul, warned that the region's demographic structure was being altered.
Affirming that after the Saddam Hussein era the Turkmen population in Iraq's Kirkuk province had grown, he added: "We then found that the population in Kirkuk had seriously changed in favor of the Kurds and a decline in the Turkmen population was evident."
