{"id":44528,"date":"2017-09-26T05:39:28","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T05:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=44528"},"modified":"2017-09-26T05:39:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-26T05:39:28","slug":"iraqs-kurds-vote-independence-raising-regional-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/iraqs-kurds-vote-independence-raising-regional-fears.html","title":{"rendered":"Iraq’s Kurds vote on independence, raising regional fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iraq’s Kurds vote on independence, raising regional fears<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Iraq’s Kurds vote on independence, raising regional fears:- Iraqi Kurds voted Monday in a landmark referendum on supporting independence, a move billed by the Kurdish leadership as an exercise in self-determination but viewed as a hostile act by Iraq\u2019s central government. Neighboring Turkey even threatened a military response.<\/span><\/p>\n

To Baghdad, the vote threatens a redrawing Iraq\u2019s borders, taking a sizeable part of the country\u2019s oil wealth with it. For Turkey and Iran, leaders feared the move would embolden their own Kurdish populations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vote \u2014 likely to be a resounding \u201cyes\u201d when official results are revealed later this week \u2014 is not binding and will not immediately bring independence to the autonomous region. Nevertheless, it has raised tensions and fears of instability in Iraq and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just hours after polls closed Monday night across the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the Defense Ministry announced the launch of \u201clarge-scale\u201d joint military exercises with Turkey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey threatened the Kurdish region with military intervention. Iran \u2014 which also opposed the vote \u2014 held military exercises along their border Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Iraqi Kurdish push for independence has been made even more combustible because Kurdish forces captured extensive territory in fighting against the Islamic State group in the past year. Those areas run from northwestern Iraq to the Iranian border on the east \u2014 including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Baghdad claims those territories, but the Kurds say they are part of their zone and some residents there are participating in the referendum.<\/span><\/p>\n

An escalation in rhetoric within Iraq set the stage for increased tensions as Iraqi Kurds lined up to vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kurdish region\u2019s president, Masoud Barzani, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi both threatened to use force ahead of Monday\u2019s vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barzani softened his tone before he voted. He told a news conference Sunday that he believed the vote would be peaceful but acknowledged the path to independence would be \u201crisky.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are ready to pay any price for our independence,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Al-Abadi had said on the eve of the referendum that the vote \u201cthreatens Iraq\u201d and \u201cis a danger to the region.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will take measures to safeguard the nation\u2019s unity and protect all Iraqis,\u201d he warned in a televised address from Baghdad.<\/span><\/p>\n

The United States and United Nations both opposed the vote, describing it as a unilateral and potentially destabilizing move.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. wouldn\u2019t alter its \u201chistoric relationship\u201d with Iraqi Kurds but the referendum would increase hardships for the Kurdish region of Iraq. She said the Islamic State group and other extremists are hoping to \u201cexploit instability and discord.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Statements from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed regret that the vote was held and said issues between Iraq\u2019s federal government and Kurdish region should be resolved through dialogue.<\/span><\/p>\n

The promise of an independent state has long been at the center of Iraqi Kurdish politics. When colonial powers drew the map of the Middle East after World War I, the Kurds were divided among Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq.<\/span><\/p>\n

That dream was evident among some of the voters in the disputed city of Kirkuk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel so great and happy. I feel we\u2019ll be free,\u201d said Kurdish resident Suad Pirot after voting. \u201cNobody will rule us. We will be independent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The oil-rich city has large Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen and Christian communities, and it has seen some low-level clashes in the days leading up to the vote. A curfew was imposed Monday evening for fear of more violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Baghdad residents strongly criticized the referendum, saying it would raise sectarian tensions and create an \u201cIsrael in Iraq.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a division of Iraq,\u201d said journalist Raad Mohammad. Another Baghdad resident, Ali al-Rubayah, described the vote as a \u201cblack day in the history of the Kurds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lawyer Tariq al-Zubaydi said the referendum was inappropriate amid the \u201congoing threat of terrorism and Islamic State\u201d militants.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe country is going through a difficult period. This requires a coming together of our efforts, he said. \u201cA unified country is better for all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey doesn\u2019t recognize the referendum and declared its results would be \u201cnull and void.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan also suggested Turkey could halt the flow of oil from a pipeline from northern Iraq, a lifeline for the land-locked Kurdish region battling a severe economic crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkey has urged the international community \u2014 and especially regional countries \u2014 not to recognize the vote and urged Iraq Kurdish leaders to abandon \u201cutopic goals,\u201d accusing them of endangering peace and stability for Iraq and the whole region.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe could arrive suddenly one night,\u201d Erdogan said, pointing to Turkish military exercises underway along Turkey\u2019s border with the Iraqi Kurdish region.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur military is not (there) for nothing,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Balint Szlanko and Ali Abdul-Hassan in Irbil, Iraq, Bram Janssen in Kirkuk, Iraq, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/middle_east\/iraqs-kurds-vote-on-independence-raising-regional-fears\/2017\/09\/26\/b062a424-a270-11e7-b573-8ec86cdfe1ed_story.html?utm_term=.1151cde7adc4<\/span><\/p>\n

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