A soldier rides on a Turkish tank near the Habur crossing gate between Turkey and Iraq during a military drill on September 18, 2017.
Turkey launched a military drill featuring tanks close to the Iraqi border the army said, a week before Iraq's Kurdish region will hold an independence referendum on September 25. (AFP PHOTO)

ANKARA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's top security body on Friday warned of "serious consequences" if the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum is held on Sept. 25.

The referendum is "illegitimate and unacceptable," the National Security Council (NSC) said in a written statement following a meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara.

The three-hour meeting was chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the presence of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar and other senior Turkish military and civilian officials.

It is inevitable that there would be "serious consequences" which would harm the whole region, if Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) insists on making the mistake to hold the referendum, the statement warned.

"Turkey reserves all options arising from bilateral and international agreements if Kurdish regional referendum is held ," the statement said.

The NSC urged the KRG to cancel the referendum "when there is still time," and search for solutions in line with Iraq's constitution.

It added that Turkey was ready to mediate between the KRG and the Iraqi government to resolve disagreements on a constitutional basis and through dialogue.

On June 7, KRG President Masoud Barzani announced his plan to hold a referendum on Sept. 25 on seeking independence of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region from Iraq.

The international community, especially Iraq's neighboring countries such as Iran, Turkey and Syria, have voiced strong opposition to the move, fearing it would inspire the huge Kurdish population in their own countries to follow suit.

The Iraqi government has also warned that it could use force if the referendum leads to violence.

After Barzani refused their repeated calls to call off the referendum, Iraq, Iran and Turkey agreed on Thursday to take countermeasures if the Kurds go ahead with the plebiscite.