Iraqi Kurds Vote to Split From Baghdad in Landmark Independence Referendum

Iraq is teetering on the brink of a political crisis as the country’s northern Kurdish region announced on Wednesday that an overwhelming majority of voters cast ballots in favor of independence from Baghdad. More than 92 percent voted “yes” in the landmark referendum on Monday in which more than three million votes were cast, according to the electoral commission of the Kurdistan Regional Government in the city of Erbil. The vote gave voice to decades of aspirations for self determination among Kurds, an ethnic group of nearly 30 million people scattered across Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. The president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani, claimed victory in the vote on Tuesday, but the vote has no legal mechanism for implementation and does not automatically trigger secession. Instead of jump-starting negotiations that would lead to a breakup with Baghdad, the independence vote triggered a standoff. In response to the vote, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi threatened to isolate the Kurdish region from the outside world. He demanded that the Kurdistan Regional Government surrender control of its border crossings and two airports or face a ban on international flights. The prime minister also demanded that the Kurdish authorities also hand over its oil revenues, the Kurdish region’s economic lifeblood. Abadi tweeted on Tuesday: “We will not compromise on Iraq’s unity or sovereignty. Iraq is strong. Some wanted to weak...
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