The Turkish parliament has extended a mandate authorizing the deployment of the country’s military forces in Iraq and Syria in the lead-up to a planned Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq.
The vote during the parliament’s emergency session Saturday comes as Ankara has repeatedly stressed that it would adopt security, political and economic measures against the planned referendum, saying the move will lead to a new crisis in the Middle East.
Last Monday the UN also urged Iraq’s Kurdish leaders to scrap the September 25 secession vote, saying it would undermine the ongoing battle in the Arab country against ISIS terrorists.