Kawa Hassan, who leads the institute's Middle East and North Africa Program, said in Bloomberg that the Iraqi Kurds should have held formal talks instead of holding a referendum on September 25.

“The risk of confrontation is big, and nobody will benefit from a new round of war,” he said.

Read the full article in Bloomberg here.

In an interview with Christian Science Monitor, Hassan said that holding the vote amid heightened internal, regional, and international opposition would fragment and weaken the Kurdish position.

Read the full article here.