REGIONAL PRESSURE MOUNTS ON KURDS
Turkey, Iraq and Iran sanctions aim to isolate region after vote to secede
Iraqi Kurdistan is facing enormous pressure after Iran yesterday declared an embargo on imports and exports of fuel products to and from the region.
The move, by a trilateral front consisting of Iran, Iraq and Turkey, is aimed at isolating the Kurds after their controversial vote on independence last Monday.
The announcement came as Iraq’s military prepared to take control over the Kurdish region’s international borders and join Iranian forces in joint military exercises near the Iran-Kurdish border.
Iranian transport companies and drivers were ordered to stop carrying fuel products between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan “until further notice” or face “consequences”, the state broadcaster’s website reported. Tehran and Ankara fear the vote could lead to renewed conflict in the region.
Yesterday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, had played a role in Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence vote, saying people were seen waving Israeli flags during celebrations of the overwhelming yes vote.
“This shows one thing, that this administration [in northern Iraq] has a history with Mossad, they are hand-in-hand together,” Mr Erdogan said.
Israel has been the only country to openly support an independent Kurdish state, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu backing “the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of their own”.
On Friday, Iraq instituted a travel ban that halted all international flights from servicing airports in the Kurdish territory.
Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi said: “Any measure taken by the government will take into account the interests of the Kurdish people. The central government’s control over border gates and seaports is not aimed at imposing any sort of siege on the Kurds.” The joint Iran-Iraq military exercises were announced by Tehran. “The decision to hold the war games in the next few days was taken at a meeting of top Iranian military commanders, which also agreed on measures to establish border security and receive Iraqi forces that are to be stationed at border posts,” an Iranian military spokesman said.
The meeting restated “Iran’s declared policies of respect for the integrity and preservation of the territorial integrity of Iraq”.
Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron invited Iraqi prime minister Haider AI Abadi to Paris on Thursday, saying France wanted to “help Iraq to stop tensions from setting in” after the vote on Monday in which Iraqi Kurdistan overwhelmingly declared its support for secession.
Mr Al Abadi’s office, however, denied that was the purpose of the meeting, saying the invitation was extended when French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and defence minister Florence Parly visited Baghdad on August 26, and that Mr Macron had made no mention of “the need to recognise the rights of the Kurds or stopping an escalation by Baghdad”.
On Friday, the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said the United States government did not recognise the Kurdish referendum. “The vote and the results lack legitimacy, and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic, and prosperous Iraq,” he said, urging all sides to “reject unilateral actions and the use of force”.
The initial result announced by the independent high elections and referendum commission revealed that 92.7 per cent of people had voted in favour of independence.
Iraqi forces made advances yesterday in the northern town of Hawija, one of two enclaves in the country held by ISIL extremists.
Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi on Friday announced the second phase of the operation to liberate Hawija, stating that, as he had promised, “we will liberate every inch of this land. We are on the verge of a new victory to liberate the residents of these areas from those criminals”.
The Iraqi military said the objective was to recapture the towns of Rashad, Riyadh, Al Abbasi, and other satellite villages.
All are mainly Sunni Arab towns long held by the extremists, but which were bypassed by government forces in their push north towards Mosul last year, which culminated in ISIL’s defeat in July in their most emblematic stronghold.
The operation’s commander, Lt Gen Abdel Amir Yarallah, announced on Friday that troops had taken Al Abbasi.
Hawija is a Sunni-dominated city in south-west Kirkuk province, which has been under ISIL rule since 2014.
Not only is Kirkuk province facing a security threat from ISIL, but it is also one of the territories disputed by the central Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government.