Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday reassured the people of the Kurdish region and the residents of Kirkuk province that the federal government is keen on their safety and interest.

"We assure our people in Kurdistan and in particular in Kirkuk that we are keen on their safety and interest. We have only fulfilled our constitutional duty to extend the federal authority and impose security and protect the national wealth in this city," Abadi said in a statement by his office.

"We call upon the Peshmerga forces to perform their duty under the federal leadership as part of the Iraqi armed forces," Abadi said.

"It's my duty to act in accordance with the constitution to serve the citizens and protect the unity of the country, which was at risk of partition as a result of the insistence on holding a referendum by the controllers of the Kurdistan region unilaterally," Abadi added.

Abadi said that he tried to prevent the regional government from holding the referendum on independence, and to focus on fighting Islamic State (IS) militants, and then he called on the Kurds to cancel the results of the referendum but they refused.

"We have clarified to them (Kurds) the danger that will engulf Iraq and its people, but they preferred their personal and their parties' interests on the expense of the interest of Iraqi people," Abadi said.

Earlier in the day, Abadi ordered government forces to enter the oil-rich Kirkuk province in northern Iraq to regain control of the disputed areas claimed between Baghdad and the Kurdish semi-autonomous region.

Disagreements between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government have been running high for years. The ethnic Kurds consider the northern Kirkuk province and parts of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahudin provinces as disputed areas and want them to be incorporated into their region, a move fiercely opposed by the Arabs and Turkomans and by the central government in Baghdad.

The disputed areas are mostly under the control of Peshmerga, but in small areas like the city of Tuz-Khurmato, there is a mixed presence of federal forces and the Peshmerga.

Tensions are escalating between Baghdad and the region of Kurdistan after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas.

The independence of Kurdistan is opposed not only by the Iraqi central government, but also by most other countries as it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and undermine the fight against IS militants.

Iraq's neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Iran and Syria, fear that the Iraqi Kurds' pursuit of independence threatens their territorial integrity, as a large Kurdish population lives in those countries.

source: xinhua