Big 'yes' vote expected for Iraqi Kurd independence

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Iraq's Kurds were Tuesday expecting the announcement of a big "yes" vote for independence, as authorities in Baghdad weighed how to respond to a referendum they considered illegal.

Large numbers turned out in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region for Monday's vote, which went ahead despite fierce objections from Baghdad, Turkey and Iran.

Votes were still being counted on Tuesday, with results expected by the end of the day and no doubt of an overwhelming outcome in favor of independence.

The vote is non-binding and will not lead automatically to independence, but is seen by the Kurds as a major step towards a long-cherished dream of statehood.

Iraq's Kurdish regional President Masoud Barzani casts his vote during Kurds independence referendum in Arbil, Iraq, on September 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

In the regional capital Arbil, a night of fireworks, flag-waving and dancing on the streets followed the vote.

"We made a Kurdish state today," Arbil resident Ahmad told AFP during the celebrations. "We're Kurdish people, we're not Arab, we're not Persian, we're no one else... We're Kurds and we'll remain Kurds forever."

The referendum took place peacefully, but has increased tensions between the Iraqi Kurds and their neighbors, raising fears of potential unrest. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared before the vote that he would take "necessary measures" to protect the country's unity and he was due to address the parliament on Wednesday.

Iraqi lawmakers voted on Tuesday to send troops to disputed areas where the referendum took place but there have been no signs of a deployment so far.

Kurdish security men inspect people during the Kurdish independence referendum in Arbil, Iraq, on September 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Turkey warns of 'ethnic war'

Analysts say Baghdad is deeply concerned by the vote but unlikely to seek a confrontation with the Kurds for now, especially as Iraqi forces continue to battle ISIL in its final bastions.

Turkey, concerned the vote will stoke the separatist ambitions of its own sizable Kurdish population, repeatedly condemned the vote as wrong-headed and dangerous. On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the Iraqi Kurds and their longtime leader Massoud Barzani 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," Erdogan said in a televised speech.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during a conference in Istanbul, Turkey, on September 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Erdogan warned on polling day that Turkey would shut its border with Iraqi Kurdistan and threatened to block key exports that flow from the region through Turkish territory. He even suggested the possibility of a cross-border incursion similar to the one Turkish forces have carried out against ISIL and Kurdish fighters in Syria.

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

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

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 number between 25 and 35 million people spread across Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.

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Source(s): AFP