Kurds voted in large numbers in an independence referendum in northern Iraq on Monday, ignoring pressure from Baghdad, threats from Turkey and Iran, 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.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened a military intervention in Iraq and to cut off the pipeline that carries oil from northern Iraq to the outside world.

Speaking at a conference in the Turkish capital of Ankara, he said that Kurdish independence was unacceptable to his country and that this was a "matter of survival".

"Our military is not at the border for nothing. We could arrive suddenly one night," he said.

Turnout in the referendum was 76 per cent an hour before voting closed, the Kurdish Rudaw TV station said.

For Iraqi Kurds, the referendum offers a historic opportunity. In the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, Kurds sang and danced as they flocked to polling stations.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi ordered security services "to protect citizens being threatened and coerced" in the Kurdish region, after unconfirmed reports that Arabs in a small town in eastern Iraq were compelled to vote yes. Kurdish officials say no such coercion happened.

Source: Khaleej Times