Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded Wednesday that this week's vote on independence for the autonomous Kurdish region be annulled.

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

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

The results of Monday's referendum have not yet been announced but an overwhelming "yes" vote was widely expected.

Pressure has been mounting on the Kurds since the vote, not just from Baghdad but also from Ankara, with Turkey threatening a range of measures including cutting off oil exports from the region.</s>Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded Wednesday that this week's vote on independence for the autonomous Kurdish region be annulled.

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

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

The results of Monday's referendum have not yet been announced but an overwhelming "yes" vote was widely expected.

Pressure has been mounting on the Kurds since the vote, not just from Baghdad but also from Ankara, with Turkey threatening a range of measures including cutting off oil exports from the region.</s>BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded on Wednesday that this week´s vote on independence for the autonomous Kurdish region be annulled.

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

The results of Monday´s referendum have not yet been announced but an overwhelming "yes" vote was widely expected.</s>Voting stations set up for the Iraqi Kurdish referendum have closed their doors and counting of ballots has begun, according to the official supervising body.

Voting closed at 6pm local time (16:00 GMT) on Monday, and the final results were expected to be announced within 72 hours.

Erbil-based Rudaw TV, citing the Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission, said 78 percent of the more than five million eligible voters turned out to vote.

In Kirkuk, authorities declared a curfew an hour and a half before polls closed as jubilant Kurds started to celebrate.

READ MORE: Tensions rise in Iraq ahead of Kurdish referendum

Kurds in the northern Iraqi city flocked to polling stations, but there has been lingering opposition to the vote among the Arabs and Turkmen who live alongside them.

Voters were asked to tick either Yes or No on the ballot asking them just one question in Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Assyrian: "Do you want the Kurdistan Region and Kurdistani areas outside the (Kurdistan) Region to become an independent country?"

The referendum is opposed by the Iraqi central government in Baghdad as well as the neighbouring countries of Turkey and Iran, and international powers.

UN chief concerned

Against this backdrop, Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, expressed concern on Monday about the potentially destabilising effects of the referendum, calling on Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to resolve differences through dialogue and compromise.

He also told Iraqi Kurd authorities to ensure that the work of the UN mission in Iraq "will be allowed to continue unhindered".

However, KRG President Masoud Barzani defended the non-binding vote, saying it was only through the referendum that Kurds could secure their future.

He also pledged to start negotiations with Baghdad officials as soon as the result of the vote is known.

The Kurds are likely to approve the referendum, but they are not expected to result in any immediate declaration to separate Iraq.

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, KRG representative to the US, says that while the result is non-binding for the Iraqi government, it is "binding" for the Kurdish leadership "to follow the will of the people".

"The Kurdish leadership now has the mandate to negotiate with Baghdad on an amicable separation, on a new relationship between Erbil and Baghdad," she told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.

The referendum has raised alarm in Iraq's neighbours - Turkey, Iran and Syria - over concerns it 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 said on Monday that his country would do whatever it takes to block efforts against the Turkey's territorial integrity.

The US and the UN have also condemned the referendum.

Iraq and other neighbours of the Kurds "have to understand that we have done this step by step", Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman told Al Jazeera.

"We are taking this very seriously; we want to engage in dialogue. We don't want to destabilise Iraq or Kurdistan ... but certainly, our aim is an independent Iraqi Kurdistan in the near future."</s>According to the magazine Israel-Kurd based in Erbil, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Massoud Barzani, the self-appointed President of the future independent Kurdistan, have reached a secret agreement.

Tel-Aviv is committed to installing 200 000 Israelis of Kurdish origin in Kurdistan.

The announcement has been widely repeated in the Turkish, Iranian and Arab press. The plan to create a South Sudan and a Kurdistan has been an Israeli military objective following missile development at the end of the nineties. These territories, largely administered by the Israelis, have enabled a rear attack on Egypt and Syria.

Out of the 8.5 million Israelis living in Israel, around 200,000 are of Kurdish origin. In March 1951, “Operation Ezra and Nehemiah” (named after the biblical persons that organized the flight of the Jewish people from Babylon) permitted 11,000 Jewish Kurds to emigrate from Iraq to Israel. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee of New York funded this operation. The planes used for this air lift were made available by the Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista.

The Barzani family that governs the Iraqi Kurdistan with an iron fist, is historically connected to Israel. Mullah Mustafa Barzani, father of the current president Massoud Barzani, was one of Mossad’s high official.

The Israeli Prime Minister is the only head of government to have publicly declared his support of the creation of an independent Kurdistan outside the historic Kurdish territory (which would also be to the detriment of the indigenous populations).

Despite the prohibition declared by the Iraqi Constitutional Court, a referendum will take place on 25 September 2017 with a view to declaring this new State.</s>Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded Wednesday that this week's vote on independence for the autonomous Kurdish region be annulled, as tensions soared between the Kurds and Baghdad.

The result of Monday's non-binding referendum had not yet been announced, but an overwhelming "yes" vote was widely expected.

Longtime Iraqi Kurd leader Massud Barzani has said the vote will not lead to an immediate declaration of independence and should instead open the door to negotiations.

But Abadi -- who rejected the referendum as illegal -- told lawmakers on Wednesday there was no question of using its results as the basis for talks.

"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 said.

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

Pressure has been mounting on the Kurds since the vote, not just from Baghdad but also from Ankara, with Turkey threatening a range of measures including cutting off key export routes for the region.

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 the jihadists of the Islamic State group.

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."

Baghdad has steadily pushed back against the vote.

Lawmakers passed a resolution Monday to send troops to disputed areas where the referendum took place, but there have been no signs of a deployment yet.

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.

Iraqi authorities are also reported to have urged international carriers to stop flying to the regional capital Arbil.

Lebanon's Middle East Airlines and EgyptAir both said Wednesday they would halt flights to Arbil this week at the request of Baghdad.

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 Turkey.

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.

Officials reported that turnout for the referendum was 72 percent, with 3.3 million of the 4.58 million registered voters taking part.

Opponents have accused Barzani of seeking to empower himself through the vote, and said he should have accepted a UN-backed plan to postpone the referendum in favour of negotiations with Baghdad.

Analysts say that despite their threats both Baghdad and Ankara are proceeding cautiously in reacting to the vote, wary of sparking a serious confrontation with the Kurds that would further destabilise an already volatile region.

Left without a state of their own when the borders of the Middle East were redrawn after World War I, the Kurds see themselves as the world's largest stateless people.

The non-Arab ethnic group of between 25 and 35 million is spread across Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.</s>"Catalonia is planning to hold a referendum on independence on Sunday 1 October," noted Rabobank analysts.

"The referendum is deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish Constitutional Court, yet the Catalan government has claimed to declare Catalonia independent from Spain in case of a yes-vote."

"We think that the outcome will be in favour of independence, but only because we expect most anti-separatists not to vote. Turnout will expectedly be low enough to prevent the Catalan government from taking large irreversible steps towards independence."

"In the end, we believe Catalonia will mainly use the outcome of the vote to negotiate better terms and more autonomy for the wealthy region. Madrid seems prepared to offer Catalonia more money and autonomy, but it is unclear to what extent."

"Given the risen tensions it will be extremely difficult to restore the relationship between the central and Catalan government. The negotiation period is set to take a long time and with the ultimate risk of unilaterally declared independence, uncertainty will linger in markets."</s>KIRKUK (Iraq) (Sputnik) — Residents of the oil-rich Kirkuk province took part in the independence vote on Monday despite the harsh criticism of the federal government.

“The voter turnout in Kirkuk exceeded 70 percent. I expect that 90 percent of the voters supported independence. There are not only Kurds but also Turks, Arabs, and Christians among them,” Karim, who is also one of the leaders of the pro-independence Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, said.

Earlier in the day, the Iraqi parliament granted the country’s prime minister the permission to deploy forces to Kirkuk. However, Karim pledged that local security forces would not allow the armed forces into the province.

In August, the council of Kirkuk voted in favor of the province’s participation in Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence plebiscite. This decision incited an uproar in Baghdad, with the Iraqi parliament later voting for the resignation of the governor of Kirkuk, who supported holding the referendum in the disputed province.

A referendum on the independence of Kurdistan was held in the region on Monday, including territories disputed by the region and the federal government, such as Kirkuk. The preliminary results show that more than 90 percent of the voters supported independence.</s>Spanish authorities are racing to block Catalonia secessionists from carrying out an independence referendum currently scheduled for Oct. 1. So far, officials have seized almost 10 million ballot papers, imposed fines on top Catalan officials, and detained numerous politicians.

Catalonia's battle with Madrid over the vote, which both the Spanish constitution court and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy deem illegal, has created the worst political crisis Spain has seen in decades. Here's what to know:

Located in the country's north-east corner, Catalonia has an economy larger than that of Portugal, and is one of the most highly industralized regions in Spain. It is separated from southern France by the Pyrenees and has been part of Spain since the 15th century. The bulk of the region's population now lives in Barcelona, Catalonia's capital.

Why do the Catalans want independence?

There is no one factor to explain the rising independence movement in the region. But experts say the fall-out of the global financial crash in 2008 played an important role.

The financial crisis led to rising unemployment and debt in the country, which irked independence supporters who believed Madrid was responsible for the crisis and that Catalonia was paying more taxes to bolster Spain's poorer regions than it was getting in return. The region pays $12 billion more taxes to Madrid each year it gets back, according t o Reuters , while Andalusia, Spain's poorest region, receives around $9.5 billion more than it pays in.

The tax issue and perceived neglect from Madrid revived secessionist spirit. Facing financial collapse and social unrest in 2012, Catalan's former President Artur Mas endorsed the campaign for independence after Madrid refused to allocate more funds to the region or give it fiscal independence.

According to the Catalan Centre for Opinion Studies , more than 30% in the region supported independence in 2011. This year 41.1% were in favor of independence. A July survey found that around half the population believed that they had the right to vote, but only less than half supported a split from Spain.

Identity politics also played a role. The semi-autonomous region of 7.5 million— which has its own local parliament and accounts for around a fifth of Spain's GDP— has its own traditions and a language, Catalan, which was previously banned under the autocratic rule of Francisco Franco in the mid-20th century.

Is this their first referendum?

No. A pro-independence movement in 2014 held a symbolic vote. Only 37% (2.25 million) of all eligible voters (5.4 million) took part in the Nov. 2014 ballot, voting overwhelmingly towards independence (81%). Many opponents, however, boycotted the vote.

Former President Mas hailed the poll "a great success," and said that it should pave the way for a formal referendum. Mas has compared the situation to Scotland, which had its own referendum on independence from the U.K. in Sept. 2014. The Scots, however, chose to stay part of Britain.

How is the 2017 referendum different from before?

The 2014 vote was non-binding. The Oct. 1 vote, if it goes ahead, could trigger a unilateral declaration of independence. It was also organized by the Catalan government and ratified by its parliament— which has been dominated by Catalan separatist parties since 2015. The Spanish constitution court declared that year that the Catalan parliament's proposed plan for a referendum was unconstitutional.

The separatists now hold the majority of seats in the regional parliament and there has been an uptick of support among officials and celebrities. Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau said on Sept. 14 that she supported holding the referendum and signalled that the city's residents could vote in the regional's government facilities after arrangements were made to protect municipal employees from prosecution. Pep Guardiola, the manager of soccer club Manchester City, supports the Catalonians' right to vote and told a Barcelona rally in June: "We will vote, even if the Spanish state doesn't want it."

Now, Madrid's attempt to clamp-down on the vote risks spiralling out of control: tensions ratcheted up in early September when Catalan parliament approved a law to hold the vote , with no minimum voter turnout, while also claiming that the region would declare independence within 48 hours if Catalans voted yes.

The Spanish Civil Guard raided the Catalan regional government's office on Sept. 20, confiscated election material and arrested 14 people— including the right hand man of the region's vice-president Oriol Junqueras. On the same day, the organization that oversees the registry of websites with the ".cat" domain was raided and websites with information about the referendum were blocked. The detainees were eventually released but around 40,000 took to the streets in Barcelona after the raids on Wednesday.

FC Barcelona condemned the crackdown. "FC Barcelona, in remaining faithful to its historic commitment to the defense of the nation, to democracy, to freedom of speech, and to self-determination, condemns any act that may impede the free exercise of these right." the football club said in a statement.

The Spanish government said it would send more officers to Catalonia in a bid to block the vote and on Saturday it was announced that all local and national police forces will be temporarily placed under centralized command. Madrid's finance ministry increased its control of Catalonia's finances so as to prevent public money from being used in campaigning for the vote or logistics.

How was the last referendum similar to the one now?

Like today, Rajoy deemed the referendum unconstitutional. This was reiterated by the government in 2014, which said Catalonia would not be allowed to hold the referendum as the country's 1978 constitution states that major questions need to be put to all Spaniards.

Both referendums did not call for a minimum number of votes for it to be passed. This means a simple majority with a low turn-out could lead to a declaration of independence on Oct. 1.

The legality of both votes are also in question. Mas was barred from office after the 2014 vote and under a 2015 law, Spanish public servants can be suspended for ignoring the constitutional court's rulings. Current Catalan President Carles Puigdemont argues that his position is governed under Catalan regulations, and that it would be unacceptable to suspend him.

What's likely to happen next?

No one knows yet. Catalan separatists are certain that the illegal plebiscite will happen on Oct. 1, and are playing a cat and mouse game with the police. Local activists told Bloomberg that more than 6,000 ballot boxes have been stashed away in secret locations, which they aim to deploy for this Sunday's vote.

Spain's Prime Minister Rajoy could go for the nuclear option, which would be to trigger article 155 of the constitution and suspend Catalonia's autonomy, allowing the central government to take control. Such a move could pour fuel on a secessionist fire already raging after the heavy-handedness of the police raids.

Even if the vote goes ahead, few experts believe the region could achieve independence as a unilateral decision, as it won't be recognized by Spain or the E.U. What a 'yes' vote could do is destabilize Rajoy's minority conservative government, which is reliant on the support of lawmakers from Ciudadanos— which was initially started in Catalonia is opposition to secessionists.

The ideal situation, writes the European Council on Foreign Relations , is for "substantial reform of the Spanish Constitution, including a further strengthening of Catalonia’s self-rule, including an explicit recognition of their character as a Nation, could be entertained. It would require elections, qualified majorities and a nation-wide referendum, perhaps followed by a specific referendum in Catalonia."

But for that to happen, Rajoy and Catalan President Puigdemont will need to step away from the brink.</s>The celebrations in Erbil included traditional Kurdish music, dancing, shooting off fireworks and parading in cars, with many pro-independence voters waving the Flag of Kurdistan.

The voter turnout was more than 72%, despite international pressure. In June, Barzani set September 25 as the date for an independence referendum, which was later widely criticized by a number of countries, including Russia, Turkey, Iran and the United States.
The result of a non-binding independence referendum by Iraqi Kurdistan will to be announced within 72 hours. The vote is widely expected to be in favor of independence.