ERBIL (Sputnik) – The Russian consulate general in Erbil is unaware of closure of diplomatic missions in Iraqi Kurdistan, consul general Viktor Simakov told Sputnik on Wednesday.

“I have not heard about this, I will have to verify this information,” Simakov said.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the Iraqi parliament called on the country’s government to summon the ambassadors of the states which had diplomatic missions in Iraqi Kurdistan region to inform them about closure and transfer to other provinces in light of the region’s independence referendum.

On Monday, the independence vote took place in Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan as well as in the disputed areas de jure controlled by Baghdad but under de facto control of Kurdish authorities. After 9 percent of votes had been counted, more than 93 percent of voters backed the independence of the region. Iraqi authorities said that the referendum was not legitimate and stressed that they would not conduct talks with the authorities of Iraqi Kurdistan on the issue of the vote.</s>ERBIL (Sputnik) — The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), ruling in Iraqi Kurdistan, will determine the candidate for the post of the autonomy's head within a week, head of the party's faction in Iraqi Kurdistan's parliament Omed Khoshnaw told Sputnik.

"Now, after the referendum, we are just hoping that within a week the matter will be set in motion and the issue will be resolved because the main thing was done," Khoshnaw said, adding that it was unknown yet who would be the candidate from the party.

On Monday, the independence vote took place in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan as well as in the disputed areas officially controlled by Baghdad. More than 90 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of gaining independence from Iraq according to local media.

Baghdad also decided to ban flights to and from the airports of the autonomous region starting on Friday.</s>Iraq's Kurds faced the threat of growing isolation Thursday after a massive "yes" vote for independence in a referendum that has incensed Baghdad and sparked international concern.

Official results showed 92.73 percent of voters backed statehood in Monday's non-binding referendum, which Iraq's central government has rejected as illegal.

Repercussions were swift, with airlines from Turkey as well as Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon saying they would halt flights to Iraqi Kurdistan this week until further notice at the request of Baghdad.

Attempts to isolate the Kurds came not just from Baghdad but also from Ankara, which has threatened a range of measures including cutting exports to the region.

While Iraqi Kurd leader Massud Barzani said the vote would not lead to an immediate declaration of independence but should instead open the door to negotiations, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi rejected the approach.

"The referendum must be annulled and dialogue initiated in the framework of the constitution. We will never hold talks based on the results of the referendum," Abadi told lawmakers on Wednesday.

"We will impose Iraqi law in the entire region of Kurdistan under the constitution," he said.

An overwhelming "yes" vote had been widely expected from the electorate of 4.58 million. Turnout was more than 72 percent.

Pursuing a long-cherished dream of statehood, the Kurds went ahead with the referendum in defiance of widespread objections, including from the United Nations and United States.

It has raised fears of unrest and the possibility of a military confrontation involving the Kurds, who are key allies in internationally backed offensives against Islamic State jihadists.

In a televised address late on Tuesday, Barzani had urged Abadi "not to close the door to dialogue because it is dialogue that will solve problems".

"We assure the international community of our willingness to engage in dialogue with Baghdad," he said, insisting the referendum was not meant "to delimit the border (between Kurdistan and Iraq), nor to impose it de facto."

- Airlines cancel flights -Baghdad has steadily pushed back against the vote.

Lawmakers on Wednesday passed a resolution calling on Abadi to "take all necessary measures to maintain Iraq's unity" including by deploying security forces to disputed areas.

The resolution also called for the closure of border posts with Turkey and Iran that are outside central government control.

Abadi said Tuesday he would ban all international flights to and from Kurdistan in three days unless airports in its main cities Arbil and Sulaimaniyah were placed under his government's control.

Turkish Airlines and fellow Turkish carriers Atlas and Pegasus, which offer frequent connections to Iraqi Kurdistan, would halt their flights from Friday, the Turkish consulate in Arbil said.

Lebanon's Middle East Airlines said it would also stop flights to and from Arbil from Friday, when EgyptAir said it would also begin an indefinite suspension.

Iran, which also has a large Kurdish minority, stopped all flights from its territory to and from Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday while also condemning the vote.

Turkey fears the vote will stoke the separatist ambitions of its own sizeable Kurdish minority and on Tuesday President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Iraq's Kurds risked sparking an "ethnic war".

"If Barzani and the Kurdistan Regional Government do not go back on this mistake as soon as possible, they will go down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war," he said.

Erdogan had earlier warned that Turkey would shut its border with Iraqi Kurdistan and threatened to block oil exports from the region through his country.

Erdogan even suggested the possibility of a cross-border incursion similar to the one Turkey carried out against IS and Kurdish fighters in Syria.

Monday's vote took place across the three northern provinces of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan -- Arbil, Sulaimaniyah and Dohuk -- and in disputed border zones such as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Analysts say that despite their threats, Baghdad, Ankara and Tehran are wary of sparking a serious confrontation with the Kurds.

Closing their borders would also hurt Turkey, whose exports to the region are worth more than $8 billion a year, and Iran, which exports about $6 billion.</s>BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Baghdad heaped pressure on Iraq's Kurds on Wednesday, demanding they cancel their overwhelming vote for independence while parliament urged the Iraqi central government to send troops to take control of vital oil fields held by Kurdish forces.

Stepping up efforts to isolate autonomous Kurdish-held northern Iraq, whose people endorsed secession in a referendum on Monday that angered neighboring countries, Baghdad demanded that foreign governments close their diplomatic missions in the Kurdish capital Erbil.

Final results released on Wednesday showed nearly 93 percent in favor of independence, and 7.3 percent against. More than 3.3 million people, or 72 percent of eligible voters, took part in Monday's ballot, according to the electoral commission.

The referendum has stirred fears of a new regional conflict. An Iraqi armed forces delegation headed to neighboring Iran to coordinate military efforts, apparently as part of retaliatory measures taken by the government in Baghdad following the vote.

Iran and Turkey also oppose any move toward Kurdish secession and their armies have started joint exercises near their borders with Iraqi Kurdistan in recent days. Iraq and Turkey have also held joint military drills.

Foreign airlines began suspending flights to Kurdish airports after the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said on Wednesday that international flights to Erbil and Sulaimaniya would be suspended from 1500 GMT.

Kurdish authorities rejected Baghdad's demands that they should annul the referendum as a condition for dialogue and hand over control of their international airports.

On Wednesday evening, Kurdish Rudaw TV reported that the Kurdistan Regional Government had offered to hold talks with Baghdad about hosting Iraqi observers at Erbil and Sulaimaniya airports to help defuse the crisis.

Turkey, which has threatened to impose sanctions on the Kurds, said its border with northern Iraq remained open, although it may not remain so. The number of trucks passing through had however decreased.

Home to the region's largest Kurdish population, Turkey has been battling a three-decade insurgency in its largely Kurdish southeast and fears the referendum will inflame separatist tension at home.

For their part, Kurdish leaders in neighboring Syria said the KRG referendum could bolster their cause for autonomy in negotiations with the Damascus government. Two meetings so far on the matter had gone nowhere, they told Reuters.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have stressed the need for Iraq's borders to remain unchanged, will meet in Ankara on Thursday.

Russia's interest in the region is growing. Oil major Rosneft is increasing investment in Kurdistan and the Kurds have been developing strong ties with Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Iraq and the Kurds against taking any steps that might destabilize the Middle East after the referendum.

The Kurds consider Monday's referendum to be an historic step in a generations-old quest for a state of their own.

Iraq considers the vote unconstitutional, especially as it was held not only within official KRG territory itself but also on disputed territory held by Kurds elsewhere in northern Iraq.

The United States, major European countries and nearby Turkey and Iran strongly opposed the referendum, which they described as destabilizing at a time when all sides are still fighting against Islamic State (IS) militants.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani announced on Tuesday evening that the "yes" vote had won.

The outcome has caused anger in Baghdad, where parliament, in a session boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers, asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send troops to the Kurdish-held region of Kirkuk to take control of its oilfields.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces took Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region, in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled in the face of IS which overran about a third of Iraq. The Kurds prevented Kirkuk's huge oil resources from falling into the militants' hands.

"The government has to bring back the oilfields of Kirkuk under the control of the oil ministry," the resolution backed by parliament in Baghdad said.

The area, long claimed by the Kurds, is also home to Turkmen and Arab communities, who opposed the independence vote, although the KRG included the area in the referendum.

Barzani, who is KRG president, has said the vote is not binding, but meant to provide a mandate for negotiations with Baghdad and neighboring countries over the peaceful secession of the region from Iraq. Baghdad has rejected talks. Abadi, a moderate from Iraq's Shi'ite Arab majority, is under pressure to take punitive measures against the Kurds. Hardline Iranian-backed Shi'ite groups have already threatened to march on Kirkuk. The Kurds were left without a state of their own when the Ottoman Empire crumbled a century ago. Around 30 million are scattered through northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria and Iran. The autonomous region they control in Iraq is the closest the Kurds have come in modern times to a state. It has flourished, largely remaining at peace while the rest of Iraq has been in a continuous state of civil war for 14 years. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, they have had to carefully balance their ambitions for full independence with the threat of a backlash from their neighbors and the reluctance of Washington to redraw borders. In the past four years they achieved a measure of economic independence by opening a route to sell oil through pipelines to a port in Turkey. But that still leaves them at the mercy of Ankara, which draws a firm line at formal independence. The Kurds say the referendum acknowledges their contribution in confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army. Iraq's Kurds have been close allies of the United States since Washington secured their protection from Saddam in 1991. But the United States has long encouraged the Kurds to avoid unilateral steps so as not to jeopardize the stability of Iraq or antagonize Turkey. The U.S. State Department said it was "deeply disappointed" by the decision to conduct the referendum, while the European Union regretted that the Kurds had failed to heed its call not to hold the vote.</s>The Creation of a “Second Israel”? Kurdistan Will Cause Years of War

Featured image: Mowaffak al-Rubai is an Iraqi MP from the ruling Shiite National Alliance. He is also a fromer Iraqi National Security Adviser. (Source: Rudaw TV)

An Iraqi official has accused “racist” Kurds of trying to establish a second Israel that will throw the region into years of conflict.

“The step that was taken by some racists in Kurdistan will bring instability to the entire region for years to come. The representatives of such efforts had established the state of Israel in 1948,” Mowaffak al-Rubaie, an MP from the ruling Shiite National Alliance told reporters in the Iraqi parliament.

There have been three wars since the creation of Israel, he added. Rubaie is a former National Security Adviser.

“The one who loses the most is our beloved Kurdish nation,” he continued On Monday, the Iraqi parliament requested Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to deploy troops to the areas that have come under Peshmerga control since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the latest in a series of measures announced by Abadi. On Sunday, he called on foreign nations to close their air and land borders with the Kurdistan Region. Rubaie warned that all the achievements made by Kurds in Iraq since 2003 are now under threat. “The government should take decisive, forceful, strong, and practical steps against those who made adventures with the destiny of the people of Kurdistan,” the Iraqi MP said, adding that Iraq should make use of “soft power” for now against the Kurdish leadership. While he said that it is “unacceptable” to use military force against the Kurdistan Region, “security” options are not off the table. “The sanctions should not target the people of Kurdistan,” he explained, but “racists Kurds” who called for the vote. He also said that tens of MPs are working on collecting signatures to remove the Iraqi President, Fuad Masum, a Kurd, from his position for failing to protect Iraq’s territorial integrity. Masum, who is currently in Baghdad, has been working to mediate between Erbil and Baghdad with the help of the United Nations. He also called the decision to go to the vote as “unilateral.” Iraq’s Vice President Nouri al-Maliki, head of the ruling Shiite State of Law Coalition, rejected the US sponsored initiative that was presented by Masum. Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told reporters earlier on Monday that steps taken by the Iraqi government are “collective punishment.” The original source of this article is Rudaw

Filed under: IRAQ, Kurdistan, kurds, Peshmerga, PKK, War on Iraq, Wars for Israel |</s>Due to numerous reasons, the Middle East continues to witness the most disturbed geopolitical conditions in the entire world. When political analysts and thinkers scrutinize the region’s map can simply and clearly realize the intersection of the civilizational, anthropological, geopolitical givens, which cause continuous changes. The Kurdish endeavor to establish an ‘independent’ state in northern Iraq exacerbates the overall complicated image of the whole area. However, could the Kurdish ‘dream’ come true regardless of all the surrounding factors?

According to the freshly announced results, more than 92 percent of Iraqi Kurds voted for the separation. Electoral commission officials told a news conference in the regional capital Arbil that 92.73 percent of the 3,305,925 people who cast ballots voted “yes” in Monday’s referendum, which had a turnout of 72.61 percent.

It is a northern area in Iraq, which comprises around 41,710 square kilometers and has a population of 4 million. It has borders with Iran (to the east), Syria (to the west), Turkey (to the north) and the rest of the Iraqi provinces (to the south). So, it is a closed area that can never economically interact with the world without concluding pacts with the neighboring countries.

According to economic experts, Iraqi Kurdistan achieves an annual oil revenue which approaches $11bn, adding that this cannot be sufficient to pay the employees’ salaries and establish a well-built state in the future.

“The Kurdish authorities suffer from a serious financial crisis.”

Furthermore, Kirkuk city which comprises 85% of the oil production will not be part of the autonomous area as the central government in Baghdad is not going to let the Kurdish authorities control it.

Although several international oil firms have signed contracts with the Kurdish authorities to invest in this vital field, the oil revenues keep unable to match the economic needs of the state.

Despite the clear US-Israeli support to the Kurdish leader Massoud Al-Barzani to establish a state in northern Iraq, the political conditions in Kurdistan indicates that the expected losses of the ‘independence’ will lead to several alterations in the domestic scene, which threatens the entire scheme of Al-Barzani.

The Iranian and Turkish opposition to the Kurdish ‘state’ represents a milestone political alliance which unifies the religious components in the area in face of the US-led plot to cause partition in Iraq and all the regional countries.

Furthermore, the US administration will no longer be able to keep its strong ties with Turkey, which is threatened to witness a similar scenario carried out by its Kurds, while backing the Kurdish scheme. This is expected to the push the Turks into intensifying their coordination and enhancing relations with Iran and all its axis in the Middle East and reducing those with the United States and its allies, including the Zionist entity.

In brief, the Kurdish ‘state’ is a closed area which can never move economically, politically and militarily without the aid of its neighbors.

The US-Israeli attempt to siege the victories achieved by the axis-of-resistance in the area is exposed, and the counter plans to frustrate the mentioned scheme and prepare for further victories over the American vicious policies are ready to be implemented.
• The Kurds that have signed up to Daesh</s>ANKARA (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) said in a statement that all international flights to and from Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports would be suspended starting from 15:00 GMT on Friday.

"We consider it reasonable for our citizens, who do not have the pressing need to stay in Northern Iraq, to leave its territory before flights are terminated there at 18:00 [15:00 GMT] September 29," the Thursday statement read.

​On Tuesday, Baghdad also reportedly required Erbil to transfer control of Kurdistan regional border posts and airports to the Iraqi central government. Earlier in the day, the region's transport minister said that Erbil was ready to discuss stationing federal observers in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports unless Baghdad tries to manage the airports.

​The independence vote took place in Kurdistan as well as in the disputed areas officially controlled by Baghdad but de-facto under the control of the Kurdish authorities. More than 90 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of gaining independence from Iraq, according to local media. The referendum has been criticized by Iraq's neighbors, the United States and the United Nations.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Passengers in Irbil give their views on the flight ban

Iraq's central government has suspended international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region, as pressure mounts after Monday's independence referendum.

Baghdad had said only domestic flights would be allowed from 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on Friday unless the Kurds handed over control of Irbil and Sulaimaniya airports.

Humanitarian, military and diplomatic flights are also reported to be exempt.

The Kurdistan government refused Baghdad's demand, calling it "illegal".

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi wants the referendum, in which 92% of voters backed secession, to be annulled.

Kurdish leaders insist the referendum was legitimate and that they now have a mandate to start negotiations with Baghdad and neighbouring countries.

Why is Baghdad restricting flights?

Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.

In Iraq, where they make up an estimated 15-20% of the population of 37 million, Kurds faced decades of repression before acquiring autonomy in 1991.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Regional carriers said they would suspend flights to the Kurdistan Region at Baghdad's request

On Wednesday, Kurdish officials said 2.8 million people living in the three provinces that form the Kurdistan Region, as well as "areas of Kurdistan outside the region's administration", had voted in favour of independence.

The announcement came despite a last-minute appeal for the result to be "cancelled" from Mr Abadi, who said the referendum was "unconstitutional".

Mr Abadi vowed to "impose Iraq's rule" and reaffirmed his threat to stop direct international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region.

What do the Kurds say?

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Thursday that a ban would be "completely illegal" and amount to "collective punishment against the Kurds".

Officials said the airports were already subject to the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority and that any restrictions would affect the battle against so-called Islamic State (IS).

Kurdish Peshmerga forces have driven the jihadist group out of large parts of northern Iraq since 2014 with air and ground support from a US-led coalition.

"We have an international community here, so this is not going to be only against Kurdish people," Irbil airport's director, Talar Faiq Salih, told the BBC on Thursday.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Activists at the airport released balloons bearing messages that urged peace with Baghdad

She later told reporters that humanitarian, military and diplomatic flights were exempt from the ban.

However, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Turkish Airlines and other carriers said they would suspend flights at Baghdad's request.

The KRG also vowed to take legal measures to counter recent decisions by the Iraqi parliament, which on Wednesday asked Mr Abadi to send troops to the oil-rich Kirkuk region and other disputed areas currently controlled by Kurdish forces.

How have Iraq's neighbours reacted?

Turkey and Iran, which have Kurdish minorities and are fiercely opposed to Iraqi Kurds gaining independence, have also increased the pressure on the KRG.

Mr Abadi's office said on Thursday that Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had agreed to deal exclusively with the central government over crude oil exports. That could result in a key pipeline from the Kirkuk region, which provides the KRG with more than 80% of its income, being cut off.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Iraq's Kurdish region foreign affairs minister says independence is 'inevitable'

On Friday, Iran banned the transportation of refined crude oil products by Iranian companies to and from the Kurdistan Region, the Tasnim news agency reported.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Irbil says dialogue is the likely way out of this impasse.

But with Iraq facing elections in April, our correspondent adds, there is pressure in Baghdad to remain firm and as yet no sign of compromise.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday that Washington did not recognise the referendum.

"We encourage all sides to engage constructively in a dialogue to improve the future of all Iraqis," he added.</s>Qatar Airways is cancelling flights to Kurdish northern Iraq from Sept 29 to Oct 1 at the request of Iraq´s Civil Aviation Authority, the carrier said on its website on Thursday.

The flights to and from Erbil and Sulaymaniyah have been cancelled after Iraqi authorities said all international air traffic would be suspended from Friday to those airports, the statement said.

Lebanon´s and Egypt´s national carriers also said earlier they will halt flights to the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil this week at the request of the Baghdad authorities.

Their decision comes after Iraq´s government threatened to ban international flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan after the region held an independence referendum on Monday.

Lebanon´s Middle East Airlines and EgyptAir both said their flights to and from Arbil would be affected.

MEA chairman Mohammed al-Hout confirmed "the suspension of all flights to and from Arbil from Friday, upon the request of the Iraqi aviation authorities for the halt of all international fights to and from the airport."

In a statement, EgyptAir also said its flights would halt from Friday "until further notice."

The transport minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Mawloud Bawah Murad, expressed bafflement at the move by Baghdad.

"Arbil and Sulaimaniyah airports were built from the budget of the Kurdistan government," he told a press conference in Arbil.

"We want more clarifications from the Iraqi government on its demand to hand them the two airports, because we don´t understand how to give them the two airports, when they are already subject to the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority.”

Baghdad has reacted with anger to Monday´s Kurdish independence vote, saying there would be no negotiations on wider autonomy for the Kurds in its wake.</s>Iraq's government says it will block international flights from the region's airports, a retaliatory move after the country's Kurdish region overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence.

More than 92 percent voted to separate from Iraq, according to results released Wednesday by the Kurdish region's election commission. The referendum results are nonbinding and must be certified by a court, NPR's Jane Arraf reports from Irbil, the region's capital.

Iraq's central government and other regional and international powers — including the United States — strongly opposed the vote, over fears that it could destabilize the region and affect the fight against ISIS militants.

Now, "Iraq has told foreign airlines that starting Friday afternoon they won't be able to fly in or out of the Kurdistan's region's international airports," Jane reports. "That's after the Kurdish Ministry of Transport rejected a demand that it hand over control of the airports to Iraqi authorities."

Iraq controls the Kurdish region's airspace, and some international airlines have announced they plan to cancel flights into Irbil, site of the region's largest airport.

Iraqi authorities say they will still allow domestic flights operated by Iraqi Airways and aid flights, Jane reports, and the change is "not expected to affect U.S. and other military flights operating out of the military side of the Irbil airport."

She says it's worth noting that the vote did not take place under the supervision of international elections monitors, and the region's minority Arab and Turkmen residents largely boycotted the referendum.

At a news conference Wednesday, Jane adds, a Sulaimaniyah-based group called "No for Now" described the referendum as a farce and alleged widespread fraud. The group is in favor of independence but believes this was the wrong moment for a vote. It said its monitors were barred from entering polling stations.

Kurdish leaders have said the impetus for holding the vote was that it would provide a mandate for entering into talks with Iraqi officials about secession.

But in a speech to Iraq's parliament Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said there would "never be a dialogue about the referendum," according to the BBC. "If they want to start talks, they must cancel the referendum and its outcome."

Iraq's Kurdish authorities have control of the region's land borders and have their own security forces, the Peshmerga, that has played a significant role in the fight against ISIS.

In Wednesday's speech, Abadi called for the Kurdish Regional Government to "hand over control of all border crossings and oil revenues," the BBC reports.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters that the U.S. has expressed "deep concern" and "disappointment" that the vote went forward, but said the airport ultimatum "would not be an example of engaging constructively."

The Kurdish area has different visa policies than the rest of Iraq. If international flights there are canceled, it will pose challenges for foreign workers who want to leave but don't have Iraqi visas. Domestic flights will still service Baghdad's international airport, but Jane says that "without Iraqi visas ... foreign workers aren't normally able to transit through Baghdad so there could be a scramble to leave before Friday."
Iraq's federal government halts all international flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan until Kurdish security forces hand over control of Erbil International Airport and Sulaimaniyah International Airport. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) calls the ban "illegal".