Politicians in the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil, in northern Iraq, convened for the first time in two years on Friday and decided to go ahead with the vote as planned earlier in the year. 
The central government in Baghdad opposes the referendum, with its parliament having rejected the Kurdish plans in a resolution on Tuesday. 
Iraq's neighbours, Iran and Turkey, have also expressed their opposition to the plan as they fear an independent Kurdish state could fuel separatism among their own Kurdish populations.