Kurdish party wants officials in disputed areas to back referendum – sources

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August 19, 2017
Special to Ankawa.com
The Kurdistan Democratic Party has been pressing administrators in the villages and towns in Nineveh plateau to sign petitions demanding the inclusion of their areas in the Kurdish independence referendum, sources told ankawa.com

The administrators, refusing to be named, said KDP officials gave them special forms to sign, which included commitment to hold the referandom in their towns and villages.

One administrator in the district of Hamdaniya said a Kurdish official told him “to sign a form containing a demand for the referendum to be held in the area.”

The administrator added that the official informed him that it would not do him any good to reject signing and oppose the measure.

Another administrator said he was aware of the Kurdish measure and that a number of his counterparts had already signed the forms.

Hamdaniya is a small Christian town lying in the plateau to the north and east of Mosul, the modern city built close to the ruins of ancient Nineveh.

The plateau is home to scores of villages and towns inhabited by diverse Iraqi minorities, namely Christians.

The plateau is part of the so-called disputed areas, which both the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in Arbil would like to annex.

The Kurds are planning to hold a referendum on independence on September 25.