Kurdish Referendum55

The Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq has announced an independence referendum for September 25th. Iraqi Kurdistan is an autonomous region in northern Iraq. Although Kurdish parties control the area, it is officially still under Iraqi rule. In fact, everybody except the Kurds are against a referendum, the United Nations, the US, the Iraqi government in Baghdad and neighboring countries Turkey and Iran. The international community fears for confrontations between the central government in Baghdad, which is against independence, and the Kurdish residents of the oil-rich northeast. Tensions would distract from the current war against Islamic state according to the US. The extremist movement still holds parts of Iraq and Syria occupied.