Erdogan warns Kurdistan of unleashing hunger on region

The Iraqi government ruled out talks on possible secession for Kurdish-held northern Iraq on Tuesday and Turkey threatened to choke it off, after a referendum on independence there showed strong support for a split.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Iraqi Kurds would go hungry if his country halts the flow of trucks and oil across the border with northern Iraq and warned that all military and economic measures were on the table against its neighbour.

The comments, some of the harshest yet from Erdogan about Monday's referendum in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, came as Iraqi troops joined the Turkish army for military exercises near Turkey's border with northern Iraq.

Erdogan reaffirmed that Turkey - which fears the effects of the vote on its own sizeable Kurdish population - would consider all options from economic sanctions to military measures.

"Airspace and ground (options) are all on the table," he said, in apparent reference to his past threats to close the border.

"All options are on the table right now and being discussed," he said. "You (the KRG) will be stuck from the moment we start implementing the sanctions."

The Turkish president said no other country would recognise Iraqi Kurds' independence other than Israel, which had warmly supported the referendum.

"Who will recognise your independence? Israel. The world is not about Israel," he said.

But Erdogan warned Barzani that the support of the Jewish state would not be enough.

"You should know that the waving of Israeli flags there will not save you," he said.

"This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery," Erdogan said.

Initial results of Monday's vote indicated 72 per cent of eligible voters had taken part and an overwhelming majority, possibly over 90 per cent, had said "yes", Erbil based Rudaw TV said. Final results are expected by Wednesday.

Celebrations continued until the early hours of Tuesday in Erbil, 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, local Kurdish-led authorities lifted an overnight curfew imposed to maintain control.

The referendum has fuelled fears of a new regional conflict.

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 to block it from Baghdad, Iraq's powerful eastern neighbour Iran, and Turkey, the region's main link to the outside world.

Source: Khaleej Times