Foreign ministers of Iraq, Iran and Turkey Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Javad Zarif, and Mevlut Cavusoglu adopted a statement calling on Iraqi Kurdistan after a trilateral meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly.   

“The ministers reaffirmed their strong commitment to the territorial integrity and political unity of Iraq, welcomed the recent liberation of the Nineveh Governorate, which constituted a major victory against ISIL and acknowledged the perseverance, commitment and resolve of the people of Iraq as a whole in fighting ISIL,” the statement reads.

The ministers decided to urge the leadership of the KRG to refrain from holding the referendum and emphasized that the referendum will not be beneficial for Kurds and the KRG.

The ministers “recognized that constructive dialogue within the Iraqi constitution as the only way forward to address the issues between Baghdad and Erbil, stressed the importance of support of Turkey and Iran to resolve and contain this escalation, reiterated the need for concerted international efforts to convince the KRG on calling off the referendum and renewed their call on the international community to remain engaged on the issue,” the statement reads.