Turkey threatens to invade Iraqi Kurdish after independence vote

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to invade Iraq, and cut off the pipeline that carries oil from northern Iraq to the outside world after the country's Kurds voted for independence in a non-binding referendum but the Iraqi government has ruled out talks on possible secession for Kurdish-held northern Iraq.

Initial results of Monday's vote indicated 72 per cent of eligible voters participated and possibly more than 90 per cent had said "yes", Erbil-based Rudaw TV said. But final results are expected by Wednesday.

There were celebrations into the early hours of Tuesday in the capital of the region, which was lit by fireworks and adorned with Kurdish red-white-green flags reports Reuters.

Local Kurdish authorities was said to have lifted an overnight curfew in the ethnically-mixed Kirkuk, where Arabs and Turkmen opposed the vote.

The referendum has fuelled fears of a new regional conflict, with Turkey reiterating threatened economic and military retaliation.

Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani says the vote is not binding but meant to provide a mandate for negotiations with Baghdad and neighbouring countries over the peaceful secession from Iraq. But Iraq's opposition to Kurdish independence did not waver.

We are not ready to discuss or have a dialogue about the results of the referendum because it is unconstitutional, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

The Kurds held the vote despite threats to block it from Baghdad, Iraq's powerful eastern neighbour Iran, and Turkey, the region's main link to the outside world.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the referendum decision amounted to treachery and repeated threats to cut the pipeline that carries oil from northern Iraq to global markets.

Iraqi Kurds - left stateless when the Ottoman empire collapsed a century ago - say the referendum acknowledges their contribution in confronting IS after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army in 2014.

Voters were asked: "Do you want the Kurdistan Region and Kurdistani areas outside the Region to become an independent country?"

Reuters