Iraq threatens to retaliate for Kurdish referendum
The Iraqi government escalated its confrontation with its northern Kurdish region on Wednesday, threatening to send troops and seize oil fields there and taking steps to shut down international flights to and from the region.
The moves came in retaliation for a referendum Monday in which the region, Iraqi Kurdistan, voted decisively to seek independence from Iraq. Kurdish officials announced Wednesday that nearly 93 percent of voters approved the referendum, which aims to create an independent state for the Kurds, an ethnic minority in Iraq.
Iraq’s Parliament asked the country’s prime minister on Wednesday to deploy troops to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, one of several disputed areas held by Kurdish troops but claimed by Baghdad, and to take control of all oil fields in the Kurdish region.
A decision to send troops would be up to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. He gave no public indication of his intentions Wednesday, except to say he wanted “no fighting among the people of the country.”
He also sent a delegation from the Iraqi military to Iran to “coordinate military efforts,” a military statement said.
Iraq has called the vote illegal and has vowed to ignore the results. The vote has also provoked the Kurdish region’s two powerful neighbors, Turkey and Iran.
The Kurdish independence challenge is the latest crisis to rock Iraq in recent years. The country was controlled by Saddam Hussein’s regime until 2003, when the U.S. invasion helped set off a brutal civil war and years of upheaval.
Just three years ago, Iraq lost a third of its territory to Islamic State militants. Now that the Islamic State is being driven out, Iraq is faced with losing a third of its territory and access to areas with oil and natural gas if Kurdistan breaks away.