“Federation hasn’t worked, so it has to be either confederation or full separation,” Barzani said, adding, “If we have three confederated states, we will have equal three capitals, so one is not above the other.”
Barzani has made similar calls in the past, which have been met with strong opposition by the central government in Baghdad.
"Over the past few years, Iraq’s Kurdish region has attempted to increase its semi-autonomy by constructing an independent oil pipeline to Turkey and conducting oil exports without coordination with Baghdad."
The autonomous region has also maintained military, intelligence and business ties with Israel.
Responding to the latest remarks by Barzani, a prominent Sunni lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament warned against plots to partition Iraq, which is currently fighting Daesh and other foreign-backed militants.
Hassan al-Shwerid, a Sunni MP who heads the parliamentary panel on foreign relations, said in Baghdad that any plan to divide Iraq along ethnic or sectarian lines could ignite more violence and inflict destruction.
Shwerid said Iraq's partition would be difficult to implement, saying Sunnis are scattered all over Shia-majority Iraq and demarcating the boundaries of any Sunni entity could set off a new wave of strife.
"“Dividing Iraq means more destruction, more violence and more wars,” he said, Press TV ewported."
Several rights groups have reported that Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria were looting houses of non-Kurds and expelling their residents in the areas liberated from Daesh and other Takfiri militants.
Some Western countries and their allies in the Middle East are said to be actively pursuing a plan to partition Iraq and Syria.
However, Turkey, a major US ally in the Middle East, has opposed independence for a Kurdish state in northern Iraq or neighboring Syria.
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