IRAQI KURDS VOTE HEAVILY FOR SEPARATION

IRBI L, IRAQ• Iraq’s Kurds voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence from Iraq, but faced being left stranded after Baghdad ordered international flights to halt service to Kurdish airports starting Friday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ruled out the use of force, but vowed to take other measures to keep his country from breaking apart as the standoff looked set to worsen.

The referendum passed with more than 92 per cent of voters approving independence, the Kurdish region’s election commission told a news conference on Wednesday. Turnout was over 72 per cent, it said.

Despite such strong support, however, the non-binding vote was unlikely to lead to formal independence, even as it escalated long-running tensions with Baghdad. Iraq and its neighbours, along with virtually the entire international community, oppose any redrawing of the map.

The vote was held across the autonomous Kurdish region’s three provinces as well as in some disputed territories controlled by Kurdish forces but claimed by Baghdad.

The election commission did not release turnout figures for the disputed territories, which could serve as an indicator of how many people in those areas prefer Kurdish rule.

Iraq’s Shiite Arab-dominated parliament called on alAbadi to deploy troops in the disputed territories, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, but al-Abadi said Wednesday he didn’t want a “fight between the Iraqi citizens.”

At a meeting with lawmakers, he instead vowed to “enforce the rule of the federal authority in the Kurdish region with the power of the constitution.”

Al-Abadi ordered the Kurdish region to hand over control of its airports to federal authorities by Friday, threatening a total flight ban if they refused. Iraq’s Transport Ministry ordered international airlines to halt service to Irbil, the Kurdish regional capital, and Sulaimaniyah, its second city, beginning Friday evening.

Most regional airlines said they would comply.

Turkey also warned its citizens that flight service to the Kurdish region would be halted, saying in a statement posted on the Turkish Consulate’s website in Irbil that flights by Turkish Airlines, AtlasGlobal and Pegasus “won’t be possible” after Friday evening. It added that authorities were working to increase flights until then.

The transport minister for Iraq’s Kurdish region said the region’s airports had not violated any laws that would warrant their closure.

Mawlood Bawa Murad told reporters his ministry was ready to negotiate with Baghdad “if they want to implement the law and show that Iraq has one air space.”

He added that the flight ban would affect, “one way or another, the military aviation that operates from Irbil international airport,” which is used for the campaign against the Islamic State group.