Kurds go ahead with secession vote despite Iranian aggression

MASOUD BARZANI, president of Iraqi Kurdistan, was last night defiant over his decision to hold a controversial referendum on independence, even as its neighbour Iran mounted pressure by closing its airspace and launching military drills on the border.

Tehran announced yesterday it was blocking all flights to and from Kurdistan at the request of ally Iraq, which has described the secession vote as “unconstitutional” and warned that it could fan the flames of tensions in the Middle East.

Some five million Kurds will go to the polls today in the three provinces that have since 2003 formed the autonomous region of Kurdistan, but also in territories disputed with Baghdad such as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Mr Barzani, a 71-year-old guerrilla leader turned politician who enjoys something of a cult of personality in Kurdistan, has mustered huge popular support for the vote.

The streets of Erbil, Kurdistan’s capital, are festooned with Kurdish flags and crowds holding nightly rallies. The Kurds – more than 30 million people spread across Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria – have long sought their own state. The result seems a foregone conclusion

However, as well as Iraq, Iran and Turkey, the US and UN are opposing the vote so there is little hope that dream will be quickly realised.

Observers say Mr Barzani is using the referendum as leverage in the Kurdish regional government’s long-standing disputes with federal authorities.

“Our relationship with Baghdad is over, it is no longer working,” he told a press conference at the presidential palace outside Erbil. “Iraq has humiliated our people. They have galvanised the Iraqi people against Kurdistan.”

He said he had hoped for a better relationship with Baghdad after the fall in 2003 of the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who arrested, tortured and killed tens of thousands of Kurds.

When asked why the vote could not be delayed, as the international community has repeatedly requested, Mr Barzani said: “We cannot wait another year. They will not change their mind, it will only strengthen their position.”

Some Kurds The Daily Telegraph spoke to said they were voting “yes”, but worried about the consequences.

Ahmed Rasol, a student, said: “We will not have security in the future if we have no friends.”