Turkey extends troop deployment mandate, pressures Iraqi Kurds on vote

Turkey’s parliament voted on Saturday to extend by a year a mandate authorising the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria, stepping up pressure against an independence referendum in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region in two days’ time.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey would take security, economic and political steps in response to the referendum, which President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman described as a “terrible mistake” that would trigger new regional crises.

The United States and other Western powers have, like Turkey, urged authorities in the semi-autonomous Iraqi region to cancel Monday’s vote. They say the move by the oil-producing area distracts from the fight against Islamic State.

Read the whole story from Reuters.