Iraq’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the suspension of a September 25 referendum on Kurdish independence.
The court said the move came in response to at least two lawsuits. One was filed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Another was filed by four members of Iraq’s Parliament — who called for the suspension of the referendum and the designation of the poll as unconstitutional, according to court documents.
The referendum has been criticized by American, British and Turkish diplomats.
Turkey fears the vote could stoke separatist aspirations among its own sizeable Kurdish minority.
White House: Vote ‘distracting’
On Friday, the White House called on the Kurdish Regional Government to call off the referendum, saying it was “distracting from efforts to defeat ISIS.”
The Kurdish authority administers Iraqi Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, known as Peshmerga, and in northern Syria, known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG, have proven some of the most effective fighting forces on the ground against ISIS.
Numbering about 30 million, Kurds make up a sizable minority in a number of Middle Eastern nations, comprising about 10% of the population in Syria, 19% in Turkey, 15-20% in Iraq, and nearly 10% in Iran. They have never had a nation state of their own, resulting in Kurdish nationalist movements across the region.