Turkey continues to send mixed signals about a planned referendum on Kurdish independence in Iraq, saying it will oppose it but doing nothing concrete to prevent it.

The country’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said nothing to clarify Turkey's ambiguous stance during a lightning visit to Baghdad and Erbil yesterday. Speaking to reporters before meeting with Massoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Cavusoglu reiterated Turkey’s opposition to the plebiscite due to be held on Sept. 25. “Our expectation from Erbil is clear: that is the cancellation of the referendum as the interests and future of the Kurds lies in a united Iraq.” But Cavusoglu denied considering potential sanctions such as sealing the border or halting the flow of Iraqi Kurdish crude to export terminals in southern Turkey. After meeting with Barzani, the Turkish diplomat said that flourishing trade ties were unconnected to the referendum.

A senior Iraqi Kurdish official confirmed that Cavusoglu had asked Barzani to cancel the referendum, saying it would destabilize Iraq and the region. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor that Cavusoglu had made “no suggestion at all of sealing the border, revisiting trade or suspending money transfers to Erbil.”

According to the official, Barzani responded that he could not cancel the referendum because doing so would “go against the will of the Kurdish people and the majority of the political parties.”