Iraqi Kurds vote in controversial independence referendum

Nisaa FM:- People in Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan are voting in an independence referendum, amid rising tensions and international opposition.

At 05:00 GTM polls opened with balloting also taking place in the disputed areas between the northern city of Erbil and the capital Baghdad, as well as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. The government in Baghdad, which strongly opposes the referendum, sought control of the region's international border posts and airports on Sunday, in anticipation of Monday's vote. Iraq's government has also called on foreign countries to stop importing oil from the Kurdish region and to deal with them instead.

In a televised address on Sunday, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned of the dire consequences of the vote and vowed to never accept the disintegration of Iraq. "This is an unconstitutional decision against the social fabric of our citizens. We will not recognize the referendum, nor its results," Abadi said. "We will take follow-up steps to protect the unity of the country and the interests of every citizen living in a unified Iraq." Meanwhile, the President of Iraq's Kurdish regional government, Masoud Barzani, has defended the decision to hold the referendum. "Is it a crime to ask people in Kurdistan to express in a democratic way what they want to have for the future?" he asked in a speech on Sunday. The Kurdish leader also said he would seek talks with Iraq's central government on how to implement the outcome of the vote.  "If we have a constructive dialogue, then we can give it even more time, in order to secure better relations between the Kurds and Baghdad," he said. About 2,065 polling stations are open for 10 hours. A total of 5.6 million people are eligible to vote in Kurdistan and other Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Iraq, according to the election commission. Voters will be asked: "Do you want the Kurdistan region and Kurdish areas outside the region to become an independent state?" Official results are expected by Tuesday.

 The Kurdish voters are likely to approve the referendum, but the non-binding vote is not expected to result in any formal declaration of independence.

As well as causing controversy within Iraq the referendum has raised alarm in Iraq's neighbors’ - Turkey, Iran and Syria. It sparks concern that the vote could encourage their own Kurdish minorities to break away. Turkey is home to the largest Kurdish population at an estimated 14 million.  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened on Monday to cut off the pipeline that carried oil from northern Iraq to the outside world."After this, let's see through which channels the northern Iraqi regional government will send its oil, or where it will sell it," Erdogan said in a speech at a forum in Istanbul. "We have the tap. The moment we close the tap, then it's done." Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil flows daily through the pipeline in Turkey from the northern Iraqi region.

Meanwhile, Iran closed its border with northern Iraq's Kurdish region on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said. "At the request of Iraq, we have closed the airspace and ground borders with the Kurdish Regional Government," ministry spokesman Behram Qasimi said at a news conference in Tehran.

Feisal al-Istrabadi, former Iraqi ambassador at the UN, said the Kurdish government risks throwing the region into turmoil for no clear gain. "For the Turks and the Iranians, but particularly for Turkey, this [referendum] is an existential threat," he stated. "

The United States and the United Nations have also condemned the referendum. The UN has warned of the vote's "potentially destabilizing effect," while the US has said it could fuel regional unrest and distract attention from ongoing campaigns to rout the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Iraq and Syria.

Source:http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/09/iraqi-kurds-vote-independence-referendum-170925032733525.html