TEHRAN, Iran \u2014 With Turkey\u2019s president by his side, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged Wednesday that they would ensure borders in the region remain unchanged after the recent Kurdish independence referendum in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Iran and Turkey opposed the referendum, which overwhelmingly passed last week, and have sent troops to their borders with the Iraqi Kurdish region. Iraq\u2019s central government also staunchly opposed the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will not accept changing borders in the region,\u201d Rouhani said at a news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe wrong decisions made by some of the leaders of this region must be compensated for by them.\u201d Rouhani said. \u201cTurkey, Iran and Iraq have no choice but to take serious and necessary measures to protect their strategic goals in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA development of this sort will isolate the Kurdish regional government,\u201d Erdogan warned. \u201cOur determination in this regard is clear. We correspond with the central government in Iraq and as far as we are concerned, this referendum is illegitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no country other than Israel that recognizes it. It is not possible for any decision taken after discussions with Mossad to be legal,\u201d Erdogan said, referring to the Israeli spy agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erdogan added: \u201cFrom this moment onward, more decisive steps will be taken. As Iran and Turkey \u2014 and the central government \u2014 there are still heavier steps for us to take.\u201d He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nonbinding referendum \u2014 in which the Kurds voted more than 90 percent in favor of a break with Iraq \u2014 will not immediately result in independence. But Kurdish leaders have said they will use it to press for negotiations on eventually forming their own state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That has set off alarm bells in Baghdad, where the government has said it is determined to prevent a breakup of the country, and in Iraq\u2019s neighbors, Iran and Turkey, which fear the vote will fuel similar ambitions among their own Kurdish populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A flight ban halted all international flights from servicing the Iraqi Kurdish territory\u2019s airports on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Turkey\u2019s president by his side, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged Wednesday that they would ensure borders in the region remain unchanged after the recent Kurdish independence referendum in Iraq.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":86314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1865],"class_list":["post-42685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JDJPU3PUTFBSHNCL27TPV45NNA","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/10\/04\/leaders-of-iran-turkey-stress-opposition-to-kurdish-state\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n