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Kurdish Referendum: Iraqi PM Gives KRG 3 Days to Hand over Control of Airports

Kurdish Referendum: Iraqi PM Gives KRG 3 Days to Hand over Control of Airports
folder_openIraq access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi gave the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] three days to hand over control of its airports if it seeks to avoid an international air embargo, a retaliatory move the Iraqi government said will take against the independence-seeking region in the wake of a highly controversial referendum.

Kurdish Referendum: Iraqi PM Gives KRG 3 Days to Hand over Control of Airports

Al-Abadi made the remarks in a weekly press conference in the capital Baghdad on Tuesday. He said international flights to and from the Kurdish region would be suspended in three days.

Last week, Baghdad called on all countries to stop direct flights to the international airports of Irbil, the capital city of the KRG, and Sulaymaniyah, another city in the Iraqi Kurdistan, but so far only Iran has put in place such an air embargo, halting direct flights to the region on Sunday.

Abadi added that Baghdad would not negotiate with the Kurdish authorities the results of the provocative plebiscite on the independence of the KRG, which is led by Massoud al-Barzani.

He further stated that the whole nation would suffer from the repercussions of the "unconstitutional" move.

The contentious non-binding Monday vote, which had been announced by the KRG earlier in the year, was held in the region in open defiance of Baghdad and much to the consternation of the international community that warned it could most likely create more trouble in the already violence-weary Arab country, which is trying to emerge from years of a campaign of death and destruction by Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ‘ISIS/ISIL' Takfiri group] terrorists.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iraqi PM said the revenues collected from exporting the region's crude oil had been transferred to personal bank accounts abroad.

Earlier on Monday, the Iraqi Defense Ministry announced that the country's army had begun large-scale military drills with the Turkish army along the common border, a few hours after Iraqi legislators had called for the deployment of army troops to areas disputed with Kurds.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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