Kurds signal desire for independence

Turkey threatens retaliation as results show a landslide for ‘yes’ option in Iraq’s referendum

September 26, 2017 09:39 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 07:36 am IST - Irbil

Towards a state?  A woman waving Kurdish flags in Diyarbakir, Turkey.

Towards a state? A woman waving Kurdish flags in Diyarbakir, Turkey.

The Iraqi government ruled out talks on possible secession for Kurdish-held northern Iraq on Tuesday and Turkey threatened sanctions after a referendum in the region showed strong support for independence.

Initial results of Monday’s vote indicated 72% of eligible voters had taken part and an overwhelming majority, possibly over 90%, had said “yes”, Kurdish TV channel Rudaw said. Final results are expected by Wednesday.

Celebrations in Irbil

Celebrations continued until the early hours of Tuesday in Irbil, capital of the Kurdish region, which was lit by fireworks and adorned with Kurdish red-white-green flags. People danced in the squares as convoys of cars drove around honking their horns.

In ethnically mixed Kirkuk, where Arabs and Turkmen opposed the vote, authorities lifted an overnight curfew imposed to maintain control.

In neighbouring Iran, which has a large Kurdish minority, thousands of Kurds marched in the streets to show their support for the referendum, defying a show of strength by Tehran which flew fighter jets over their areas.

The referendum has fuelled fears of a new regional conflict. Turkey, which has fought a Kurdish insurgency within its borders for decades, reiterated threats of economic and military retaliation.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani says the vote is not binding, but meant to provide a mandate for negotiations with Baghdad and neighbouring countries over the peaceful secession of the region from Iraq.

But Iraq’s opposition to Kurdish independence did not waver.

“We are not ready to discuss or have a dialogue about the results of the referendum because it is unconstitutional,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a speech on Monday night.

The Kurds held the vote despite threats from Baghdad, Iraq’s powerful eastern neighbour Iran, and Turkey, the region’s main link to the outside world.

Turkey’s warning

“This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said, repeating threats to cut off the pipeline that carries hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day from northern Iraq to global markets.

He warned that Iraqi Kurds would go hungry if Turkey imposed sanctions and said military and economic measures could be used against them.

Iraqi Kurds — part of the largest ethnic group left stateless when the Ottoman empire collapsed a century ago — say the referendum acknowledges their contribution in confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the Iraqi Army in 2014 and seized control of a third of Iraq.

30 million Kurds

Voters were asked to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question: “Do you want the Kurdistan Region and Kurdistani areas outside the (Kurdistan) Region to become an independent country?”

With 30 million ethnic Kurds scattered across the region, mainly in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria, governments fear the spread of separatism to their own Kurdish populations.

The U.S. State Department said it was deeply disappointed by the KRG’s decision to conduct the referendum but added that Washington’s historic relationship with the people of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region would not change.

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