According to Nova, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reiterated today, on the occasion of the press conference held in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rohani, his opposition to the referendum celebrated on 25 September last in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan , announcing that "major countermeasures" will be taken against Erbil. "We do not recognize the illegitimate referendum of the regional government of northern Iraq - said Erdogan -. Turkey shares 350 kilometers of border (with the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan) while to the east it borders with Iran, to the south with central Iraq and to the west with Syria. Why did Northern Iraq hold this referendum? There is no country in the world that recognizes it except Israel. A decision taken at the table with the Mossad (Iranian intelligence agency) cannot be legitimate ”.
Rohani, for his part, said Ankara and Tehran will work together to "address the disintegration of Iraq and Syria" and ease tensions in the region. "We want the security and stability of the Middle East ... the referendum on the independence of Kurdistan is a sectarian plot of foreign countries and is contested by both Tehran and Ankara," Rohani said in the joint press conference. Rohani added that Iran will increase gas supplies to Turkey as part of its strategy to strengthen economic ties with its neighbor. “During our meeting today we agreed to expand our economic relations - explained the Iranian president -. Turkey will import more gas from Iran and meetings will be held next week to discuss the details ”. Erdogan recalled instead that the two countries have decided to conduct trade in their respective currencies, to reach a trading volume of 30 billion dollars from the current 10 billion dollars.