"We will accept nothing but the annulment of the referendum and respect for the constitution," Abadi said in a statement released by his office in Baghdad as he holds talks in neighboring Iran.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) issued a statement early on Wednesday offering three-point text to the government of Iraq and the international community.
The KRG proposed, “Immediate ceasefire and halt all military operations in the Kurdistan Region. Freeze the results of referendum conducted in the Iraqi Kurdistan. Start an open dialogue between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraqi Federal Government on the basis of the Constitution.”
Abadi’s cheif spokesman Haidar Hamada said the referendum had already been consigned to history by facts on the ground after Iraqi federal troops and allied militia overran thousands of square kilometers (miles) of disputed territory long claimed by the Kurds.
"They speak of freezing the referendum but our answer is this -- the referendum belongs to the past and we have finished with it on the ground," Hamada said on Facebook.
The Iraqi Parliament on September 27 imposed several sanctions on the Kurdistan Region including a ban on international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region.
International flights have been suspended since September 29. Travelers who intend to fly to the Kurdistan Region have to first fly to another Iraqi international airport and then fly to the region’s airports in Erbil or Sulaimani by domestic flights.
The Iraqi Parliament asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to deploy troops in Kirkuk and other disputed areas. Parliament also ruled that the Iraqi government must convince its neighboring countries to close their borders and request the international community to close their consulates and representative offices in the Kurdistan region.
On Monday and Tuesday, federal troops and Hashd al-Shaabi retook the province of Kirkuk and its lucrative oil fields, as well as formerly Kurdish-held areas of Nineveh and Diyala provinces -- all outside the Kurdistan region’s administration.
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26 October 2017 - 13:45
News ID: 862691
(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he would only accept the annulment of the Kurdistan independence referendum, not the freeze that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) proposed to Iraq.
