Kurds must hand over airports or face embargo: Iraqi PM

International Desk: The Iraqi government has threatened to impose an international air embargo on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) if it does not hand over control of its airports, as Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani says his people voted in favour of independence.

On Tuesday, Barzani announced that the majority of Kurdish voters supported independence in Monday's referendum.

The results came shortly after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that the KRG has until 3:00pm local time (12:00 GMT) on Friday to transfer control of the airports to the Iraqi government.

The embargo threat is the latest in a string of retaliatory measures against the KRG's push for independence.

Domestic flights are not involved in the ultimatum and in the worst case, international travel to and from the KRG will be re-routed through Baghdad and other Iraqi airports.

Baghdad last week asked foreign countries to stop direct flights to the international airports of Erbil and Sulaymaniya, in KRG territory, but only Iran declared such an air embargo, halting direct flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan.

Humanitarian and "emergency" flights are exempted, provided they are pre-approved by Baghdad, Abadi said.

Baghdad will also ask neighbouring countries to shut the border with Iraqi Kurdistan if the KRG does not hand over border posts to the central government by Friday.

In response, Barzani urged the world to "respect the will of millions of people" who voted in Monday's referendum. He called on Baghdad to engage in a "serious dialogue" with the KRG.

Source: Agencies



risingbd/Sept 27, 2017/Mukul