Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, center, attends a session of the Iraqi Parliament, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 27. (Karim Kadim/AP)
By Tamer El-Ghobashy and Kareem Fahim September 27 at 10:34 AM
IRBIL, Iraq — Kurds voted overwhelmingly to secede from Iraq, with 92.7 percent approving a controversial referendum that was held Monday, according to an official tally released Wednesday.While Kurds celebrated the result in the streets of their semiautonomous enclave in northern Iraq, the bid for independence continued to roil Iraq’s central government and powerful regional neighbors Turkey and Iran and is shaping up to usher in a period of contentious wrangling over its implementation.

Early Wednesday, Iraqi lawmakers authorized Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to deploy troops to a disputed city in northern Iraq and urged for legal action against Kurdish leaders as a showdown escalated over the vote. The parliament also called for the government to take control of all oil fields in the Kurdish region, bringing them under control of the ministry of oil.

Several regional airlines said they would suspend flights to airports in the Kurdish region in a sign of Baghdad’s pressure to try to punish and isolate the Kurds.

The vote has led to a tense standoff between the Kurdistan regional administration and Baghdad, setting off a crisis that has spiraled beyond Iraq’s borders.

The move toward autonomy, a long cherished dream for millions of Kurds, was vehemently opposed by the United States as well as Turkey and Iran, which have worried about their own restive Kurdish populations.

Several regional powers have threatened to impose a raft of punishing sanctions to forestall any further steps toward independence and force the Kurds to negotiate with Baghdad. Both Iran and Turkey have separately held military exercises along their borders with the Kurdish region ahead and since the vote.

Though it opposed the referendum and has since said it is disappointed the Kurds went ahead with it, the United States State Department said on Tuesday it would not effect Washington’s long-standing partnership with the regional government.

[Kurdish bid for independence from Iraq emerges as regional flash point]

The flight suspensions, by Lebanese and Egyptian carriers, came after Abadi ordered Kurdish authorities to surrender control of the airports to the central government in Baghdad by Friday. If the order was ignored, he said, flights to the airports would be stopped.

In a speech to parliament on Wednesday, Abadi also demanded the annulment of the independence vote, saying Iraq would “not allow any violation of the constitution.”

“We will impose the rule of Iraq in all of the areas of the KRG, with the strength of the constitution,” he added. “There will be no fighting between the sons of one country, but we will impose the law, you will see.”

The parliament authorized Abadi to send troops to Kirkuk, an oil-rich city that is claimed by Baghdad as well as the Kurdish region and has been a flashpoint in the contest for territory between the two governments. Lawmakers also called for the prosecution of Kurdish officials responsible for organizing the referendum, including KRG President Masoud Barzani.

Barzani has said the referendum is nonbinding and is intended to kickstart stalled negotiations with Baghdad over Kurdish independence from a position of equity. The two sides have sparred since 2003 over the sharing of revenue, borders and oil exports – with Baghdad often withholding payments to the Kurdish government in response to alleged landgrabs by the Kurds.

Fahim reported from Istanbul. Mustafa Salim contributed to this report from Irbil, Iraq.

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