US does not recognize KRG's independence poll

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. does not recognize the Kurdish Regional Government's (KRG) nonbinding referendum on independence from Iraq, the State Department said Friday.

"The vote and the results lack legitimacy and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

Tillerson said the U.S. remains concerned about the fallout from the poll in which Kurds overwhelmingly vote to leave Iraq, emphasizing that before the vote Washington worked with Erbil and Baghdad "to pursue a more productive framework and to promote stability and prosperity for the people ‎of the Kurdistan region.”

"These aspirations, ultimately, cannot be advanced through unilateral measures such as this referendum," he said.

The poll has been denounced by Iraq and its neighbors, who view it as illegitimate.