The situation in the Middle East smells of war, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Turkologist Victor Nadein-Raevsky, said in an interview with Armenian News – NEWS.am.  

In his words, this relates to the situation round Qatar. “The situation is such that the countries of the region have divided into two opposite blocs. The situation is very volatile, the issue of Kurdistan also being added to this escalation. That is, we are now dealing with an extremely serious challenge to the statehood of the region,” Victor Nadein-Raevsky noted.

Referring to the possibility of creating a Kurdistan state in northern Iraq, he noted that technically it is quite possible. “Since technically we deal with an actually independent Kurdish state. That is the Kurdish autonomy. They have enormous [scope of] rights: they have taken what they wanted. But the thing is that Masoud Barzani does not claim simply the territory of the current Kurdistan autonomy. The thing is that the Kurds are going to include such regions as Mosul and Kirkuk in that future state. These are the regions of large oil deposits, it being apparent that Baghdad is categorically against such approach,” he stressed.

Touching on the consequences of the creation of independent Kurdistan for Turkey, Nadein-Raevsky said: “It is clear that the very posing of the question on such a referendum bears certain danger. The Turks are categorically against provision of any independence to whatever part of Kurds, since they believe the situation in Turkish Kurdistan will then worsen.”

If the referendum takes place, the Middle East map will radically change, since Iran is also against that referendum. “For Iran, the issue of Kurds is also a very serious problem in terms of the Iranian statehood. Thus, Iraq, Turkey and Iran are against holding the Kurdish referendum. But are they able to stop that process? They are actually able. But that is definitely a war. As to the success of the referendum, it[s possibility] is great. The geopolitical situation in the region will radically change, the strife definitely growing,” the expert added.  

Advisor to President of Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani, Hemin Hawrami, stated that the referendum on the independence of the state will be held in Iraqi Kurdistan on September 25. Iraqi Kurdistan is an autonomy within Iraq, whose status is enshrined by the Constitution of the country.