Iraqi Prime minister Haider al-Abadi gives a press conference following his meeting with French president at the Elysee palace in Paris, on October 5, 2017. / AFP / POOL / ludovic MARIN
Paris: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Thursday he did not want an armed conflict with his country's Kurds, days after the autonomous Kurdistan region voted for independence in a referendum.
"We don't want armed confrontation," he said after a meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who voiced support for Kurds' rights while defending Iraq's territorial unity.
