Kurdistan vote Archives

Saying that the Turkish military stands ready, president threatens to cut the Kurds’ oil exports through his country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced the independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, and will not rule out a potential military action to stop efforts to usurp his country’s territory.

The warning came as people in the Iraqi autonomous region voted on Monday in an independence referendum, amid rising tensions and international opposition.

Balloting took place in the disputed areas between the northern city of Erbil and the capital Baghdad, as well as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which is ethnically mixed.

“Our armed forces are on the borders with Iraq to do whatever it takes,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkey could block key oil exports of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) over the vote.

“We will never allow anyone or anything to go from Turkey to Iraq. This week we will adopt so many other measures. We will close the borders. Nothing will go across the borders.”

“Entrance-exit will be closed” at the Habur border crossing, Turkey’s sole land border crossing with Iraq, Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.

He said there were currently crossings allowed to the Iraqi side only but travel would be closed in both directions this week.

“After this let’s see through which channels they will send their oil through … and who they will sell to. The valve is with us. It’s finished the moment we close it,” he said.

Iraqi Kurdish oil is exported through Turkey and its southern Ceyhan port, a key economic lifeline for the region.

‘Null and void’

Erdogan said “irrespective of the result, we see this [referendum] as null and void and say it is illegitimate”.

He also said Turkey was ready to take “all the steps” needed “on political, economic, trade and security fronts” and appeared not to rule out military action.

Last week the Turkish armed forces began a military drill in the region around the border town of Silopi, including 100 military vehicles, which continued with reinforcements this weekend.

A Kurdish man walks in the street in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk on September 18, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi police have imposed a curfew in the northern city of Kirkuk, which witnessed skirmishes between Kurds and Turkmen days before a controversial Kurdish referendum on independence from the mainland.

The Iraqi Kurds plan to hold the plebiscite on September 25 in three provinces that make up their region, as well as in disputed areas that are controlled by Kurdish forces but claimed by Baghdad, including the oil-rich Kirkuk Province.

Baghdad has slammed the upcoming vote as unconstitutional, calling on the Kurdish leadership to drop the plan.

On Monday, Iraq’s top court temporarily suspended the Kurdish independence referendum, saying it “issued a national order to suspend the referendum procedures … until the resolution of the cases regarding the constitutionality of said decision.” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also formally asked the Kurdish officials to halt the process.

Later in the day, gunmen opened fire on one of the Kirkuk offices of the Iraqi Turkmen Front political movement, which is opposed to the Kurdish vote.

Mohammed Samaan Kanaan, in charge of the Front’s offices, told The Associated Press that guards returned fire, killing one and wounding two of the assailants.

Hours later, a police patrol attacked another office of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, but there were no casualties, he added.

Afterwards, Kirkuk was placed under a nighttime curfew, with provincial police chief, Brigadier General Khattab Omar saying that an investigation committee was probing the incident.

He blamed Monday’s clashes on “reckless enthusiastic youths” and said that arrests have been made.

Locals said Iraqi police had deployed overnight in Kirkuk to prevent any outbreak of ethnic violence ahead the Kurdish vote.

Last week, Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers approved holding the secession vote in the face of fierce opposition from the central government in Baghdad.

The United Nations and the US as well as regional powers like Iran and Turkey have also expressed concerns about the planned referendum by the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), arguing that it could create further instability in the already volatile region.

The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, said once again late Monday that he would proceed with the referendum despite warnings at home and abroad.