(VOVworld) – President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, called on regional lawmakers Thursday to form a committee to organise an independence referendum.

Iraqi Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, has said independence is a natural right of the people of Kurdistan. Photograph: Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images

Farhad Sofi, a MP from the Kurdistan Democratic party (KDP) who attended the close-door  session said Barzani also proposed that the committee determine a future development orientation. But Barzani did not offer a timetable for the referendum.

Earlier, the US urged Barzani to stick with Baghdad, though the Kurdish leader said during a meeting last month with US Secretary of State John Kerry that it was "very difficult" to imagine factions in Iraq staying together.