Kurdish referendum, Erdogan threatens

When we start with our sanctions, they'll go hungry. Everything will be over when we close the oil faucets. The money will disappear and they will not even be able to find food when trucks stop in northern Iraq”, Erdogan said.

Erdogan accused the chief of the Kurdistan regional government of treason after allowing the vote to be held, despite international controversy.

“Masoud Barzani must now give up this” adventure, he said.

Earlier, Erdogan had threatened to stop an important pipeline for Kurds and stop trucks crossing the Turkish border.

Turkey fears that, an independent Kurdish state on its border, could fuel separatist feelings even among its Kurdish minority. The referendum results have not yet become known, but a victory for the vote is expected “po”.

About 72 per cent of the 5.2 million voters voted in the referendum in Kurdish-controlled areas.

Kurdish leaders said the referendum would not automatically lead to the declaration of independence, but would give them a mandate to start negotiations on partitioning from Baghdad's central government. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abad has dismissed the possibility of such talks, saying he would not discuss the results of an unconstitutional referendum.