ERBIL, Iraq, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's Kurdish regional President Masoud Barzani on Sunday reconfirmed holding the referendum on the independence of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region as scheduled on Sept. 25.
"We have decided to hold referendum and we are going ahead whatever the price would be. We are not going to wait for unknown fate, and will not be subject to pressure and threats," Barzani said during a press conference in Erbil.
"I urge the people of Kurdistan to go to the ballot boxes to express their views without any problems and to maintain security and order during this democratic experiment," Barzani said.
However, Barzani said that the referendum "does not mean defining the borders. We want to open dialogue with Baghdad government to reach common understandings and to solve our pending problems."
On June 7, Barzani announced his intention to hold a referendum on the independence of the Kurdish region from Iraq on Sept. 25.
The independence of Kurdistan is opposed by many countries because it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and because it comes as the Iraqi forces are in fight against the Islamic State militant group.
In addition, the neighboring countries of Turkey, Iran and Syria see that such a step would threaten their territorial integrity, as larger populations of Kurds live in those countries.
