Kurdish enclave faces threat of tough sanctions
TURKEY/IRAQ: A deluge of economic sanctions is set to descend on Iraq’s Kurdish Autonomous Region (KAR), threatening to cripple an independent Kurdistan only four days after its controversial referendum.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Arbil said 92 per cent of voters endorsed independence in the poll on Monday, but its neighbours are stepping up their rhetoric and resolving to choke off its cashflow.
Turkey and Iran both fear that Kurdish independence in Iraq could stoke separatist tensions in their own Kurdish regions, and have indicated their readiness to cut lucrative economic ties. Baghdad has lambasted the referendum as illegitimate and is refusing to recognise the result. The three countries have held talks to hammer out ways to undermine the autonomous region’s push for statehood.
Turkey yesterday promised to deal only with Baghdad when exporting oil through a pipeline to the Mediterranean, cutting off one of the KAR’s main income streams. Ankara has also suspended flights to the region, heeding Baghdad’s call for an international air embargo unless Arbil hands over control of all its ports and airports.
Turkey is urging its citizens to leave the region before the flight ban comes into force. Turkey also banned the KAR’s envoy to Ankara from returning from Arbil, and is considering closing its land border, an important trading artery. Iran has also closed its air border with the region.
Binali Yildirim, the Turkish prime minister, pledged yesterday to ‘‘support all measures’’ taken by Iraq, including over the export of oil which ‘‘should be through the federal authorities’’. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier warned that Turkey can ‘‘turn off the tap’’.
The Iraqi parliament has urged the government to send troops to take control of vital oil fields.
Baghdad is concerned to maintain control of the disputed and oilrich city of Kirkuk, which was included in the referendum despite not being a majority Kurdish city.
About 650,000 barrels of oil move through the Ceyhan pipeline each day, a transaction between Ankara and Arbil that largely excludes Baghdad.
The trade was worth about US$5 billion (NZ$6.9b) in the first half of 2017, with Turkey benefiting from the tariffs it charges the KAR to use the pipeline.
Baghdad also exports crude oil through the pipeline, and appears to be searching for other options in the event of it being closed.
‘‘Arbil knows full well that unless Turkey closes this pipeline, Baghdad’s options to stop oil exports from KRG-controlled oil fields are limited to threatening to sue companies carrying Kurdish crude for sale,’’ said Anthony Franks, a Middle East analyst.
‘‘Though if the pipeline is shut, revenue for the KRG most certainly will [be affected].’’
– The Times