IRBIL, Iraq (AP) – The backlash from an independence referendum approved by Iraq’s Kurds this week has left the northern Kurdish region increasingly isolated from Baghdad, and the crisis sparked by the vote appears poised to intensify.
The nonbinding referendum, in which the Kurds voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Iraq, was billed by the Kurdish leaders who spearheaded it as an exercise in self-determination that would set the region on the path to statehood – a dream central to Kurdish politics for decades.
Since Monday’s vote, the crisis seems to have pushed Iraqi Kurds further away from the central government in Baghdad and alienated countries like Turkey and the United States, which have been key allies of the small, landlocked region.
Baghdad announced Thursday that Turkey – an indispensable trade partner to the region and once a key political ally – will now only deal with Iraq’s central government on oil sales. That could deprive the Kurdish region of more than 80 percent of its income.
Iraq’s government also has ordered international airlines to halt flights to and from the cities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah starting Friday.