The president of the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government of northern Iraq, Masoud Barzani, said he believes Turkey is unlikely to oppose an independent Kurdistan state if a pledged referendum for independence goes ahead.

The president of the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government of northern Iraq, Masoud Barzani, said he believes Turkey is unlikely to oppose an independent Kurdistan state if a pledged referendum for independence goes ahead.

Praising Erbil's relationship with Ankara, Barzani told German daily Die Welt in a recent interview “Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan visited us in Erbil. This was a historic step.”

Although Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Turkey would never support a disintegrated Iraq last week, Barzani said “I do not expect active assistance or resistance,” regarding Turkey's stance on an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

Barzani is yet to offer a timetable on the proposed commission's work of organizing a referendum, several Kurdish lawmakers told Reuters last week. They said Barzani had asked parliament to choose a date for the vote.

The United States has urged Barzani to stick with Baghdad, though the Kurdish leader said during a meeting last month with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that it was "very difficult" to imagine Iraq staying together.

Referring to the seizure of disputed territory in Kirkuk by Kurdish forces known as the 'peshmerga', Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki accused the Kurds of exploiting current events resulting from the terrorists of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' capturing Mosul, north of the country.