Iraq Kurds defy Baghdad in independence vote
Kurds voted in an independence referendum in northern Iraq yesterday, ignoring pressure from Baghdad, threats from Turkey, and international warnings that the vote may ignite yet more regional conflict.
The vote organised by Kurdish authorities is expected to deliver a comfortable "yes" for independence, but is not binding. However, it is designed to give Masoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a mandate to negotiate the secession of the oil-producing region.
For Iraqi Kurds - the largest ethnic group left stateless when the Ottoman empire collapsed a century ago - the referendum offers a historic opportunity despite intense international pressure to call it off.
"We have seen worse, we have seen injustice, killings and blockades," said Talat, waiting to vote in the regional capital of Erbil, as a group of smiling women, in colourful Kurdish dress, emerged from the school showing their fingers stained with ink, a sign that they voted.
At Sheikh Amir village, near the Peshmerga front lines west of Erbil, long lines of Kurdish fighters waited to vote outside a former school. Most emerged smiling, holding up ink-marked fingers.
In Baghdad, lawyer Adil Salman said the referendum resulted from the weakness of the Iraqi government. "The scenario we're seeing now is of state disintegration," he said.
The Kurds also say the vote acknowledges their contribution in confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army in 2014 and seized control of a third of Iraq, reported Reuters.
President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey could cut off the pipeline that carries oil from northern Iraq to the outside world, piling more pressure on the Kurds.
Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry said yesterday that its border with Iraqi Kurdistan remained open despite its independence referendum, reversing an earlier statement.
A statement by the ministry said: "The land border between Iran and the Kurdistan region of Iraq is open."
"For now, only air borders between Iran and this region are closed," it added.
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