As Kurdish Borders Close, War of Words Heats Up
"We want this to be a peaceful transition, but if Baghdad decides not, there is a lot we can also do." Mr. Ali was critical of threats by Baghdad to ask Turkey to cut a vital oil pipeline, which provides most of the estimated $8 billion the Kurdish region earns annually from oil revenue,
and a request from the Iraqi parliament to move troops into the oil-rich, Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk.
Overseas flights were canceled on Friday from the international airport in Erbil, hours before a ban by the
Iraqi government took effect, while officials in Baghdad warned that land borders might also be closed.
Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence in a referendum on Monday, which
Mr. Ali said obliges Mr. Barzani to negotiate independence from the rest of Iraq.
We can also close the Erbil International Airport to domestic flights, to Baghdad
and Najaf." That, he said, would hurt many Iraqi officials whose family members live in the Kurdish region.
The Iraqi ban took effect at 6 p.m. Prime Minister Abadi’s office released a statement
that the Kurdish region’s two international airports, in Erbil and Suleimaniya, could be reopened as soon as Kurdish officials transferred control of them to the federal government.