Turkey, Iraq start joint drill after Kurdish referendum

Iraqi soldiers on Tuesday conducted a joint military exercise with Turkish troops on the Turkish side of the border. The Iraqi troops arrived in Turkey Monday evening to join the third phase of the drill which started on Tuesday at the Habur border gate on the Turkish-Iraqi border.  Turkey launched the drill one week ago as a show of force against the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government(KRG) that held an independence referendum on Monday.  The KRG held the referendum in bid to seek independence of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region from Iraq. Iraq, Turkey, Iran and the United States have all spoken out against the referendum, saying it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and further destabilize the region.