Iraqi Kurds take part in landmark referendum

Iraqi Kurds voted yesterday 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’s central government.

Neighbouring Turkey even threatened a military response.

To Baghdad, the vote threatens a redrawing of Iraq’s borders, taking a sizeable part of the country’s oil wealth with it. For Turkey and Iran, leaders feared the move would embolden their own Kurdish populations.

The vote – likely to be a resounding “yes” when official results are revealed later this week – 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.

Just hours after polls closed yesterday night across the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the Defence Ministry announced the launch of “large-scale” joint military exercises with Turkey.