ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The former Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, Ilker Basbug, was quoted in the Turkish press on Friday saying that Iran and Turkey could prevent the Kurdistan Region from declaring independence.
"As long as these two countries are opposed to an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq," the United States won't support any Kurdish drive for independence Basbug said.
Basbug doesn't believe Kurdish statehood is in the interests of Iran and Turkey and consequently believes they should continue to oppose it.
The issue of a Kurdish referendum for independence has gained momentum in recent months since it was first openly suggested by Kurdish President Masoud Barzani two years ago shortly after ISIS took over most of Iraq’s Sunni areas.
Basbug said that the US will never give the green light to Kurdish independence, suggesting that the Kurds should try instead to maintain and strengthen their current status instead.
Basbug thinks that the war between the Peshmerga and ISIS is just a trick to expand Kurdish territories where “ISIS captures an area and later gives it back to the Peshmerga which is all groundwork for a Kurdish state,”
The Turkish general predicted the liberation of Mosul in the near future, asking meanwhile if the Peshmerga are going to take control of the city after ISIS. “That is why Iran and Turkey are aware of this plan and will be using their cards wisely,”
