ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Authorities in Iraq and Kurdistan Region will form two committees in the near future to "evaluate the question of independence" before the anticipated referendum is held in Kurdistan, a top government official told Rudaw on Thursday. "We agreed on formation of two committees: one in Erbil and the other in Baghdad to evaluate all aspects of this question," said Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of the Kurdish president, in reference to the looming referendum on independence in Iraq's Kurdistan. Hussein who accompanied the Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani to Baghdad earlier this week said they had "frank and open discussions" with top Iraqi officials about "self-determination" and "Kurdish independence." "Some of the Iraqi parties said clearly that they were in favor of Kurdistan's right to self-determination. But others said Kurdish independence could create domestic and regional tensions," Hussein said. Iraq's Prime Minister Haidar Abadi has reportedly told a visiting Kurdish delegation that Baghdad will not block Kurdish efforts to hold a referendum and that he saw independence as "an undisputed right" of the Kurdistan people. "Prime Minister Barzani said the situation cannot continue as now and that we needed to talk about a fundamental solution which is independence for Kurdistan," Hussein said.
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