a club of strongman leaders and the people who used the ballot box to declare their desire to be free. euphoric scenes among iraq's kurds after the official result was announced kurdish authorities say that with a seventy three percent voter turnout the poll had been a resoundingly success. at this historic moment i want to congratulate you on the success of the referendum on the independence of kurdistan in our autonomous region and the areas outside the autonomous region which kurdistan claims. in baghdad the reaction couldn't be more different iraq's government opposes the kurdish push for statehood and has demanded an immediate an element of the vote. of our position on the kurdish referendum is firm and clear we oppose the process because it does not conform with the constitution it has no legal basis and did lacks legitimacy its result has no binding power on the federal government in baghdad and no legal effect we will never acknowledge the result for