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Kurds danced on the streets of Kirkuk, a city also claimed by the central Iraqi government
Large numbers of people have taken part in a landmark vote on independence for Iraq’s Kurdistan region, amid growing opposition both at home and abroad.
Votes are still being counted, with a big “yes” victory expected.
Kurds say it will give them a mandate to negotiate secession, but Iraq’s PM denounced it as “unconstitutional”.
Neighbours Turkey and Iran, fearing separatist unrest in their own Kurdish minorities, threatened to close borders and impose sanctions on oil exports.
The referendum passed off peacefully across the three provinces that make up the region, and turnout was estimated at about 72%, according to the electoral commission.
There were scenes of celebration as the polls closed in the regional capital, Irbil, and in the disputed city of Kirkuk, where a curfew was imposed on Monday night amid fears of unrest.
“It’s a day of celebration today. That’s why I’ve put on our traditional outfit, which I bought for the occasion,” 33-year-old Diyar Abubakr told the AFP news agency.
There was some opposition to the vote among non-Kurdish populations in disputed areas between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments. In Kirkuk, the local ethnic Arab and Turkmen communities had called for a boycott
The vote is being closely watched not only in Iraq but elsewhere in the region because its implications could reshape the Middle East, the BBC’s Orla Guerin in Irbil reports.
Turkey and Iran fear the impact this could have on their own Kurdish communities, our correspondent adds.
In Istanbul, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the vote as “unacceptable” and threatened to close the Iraqi Kurds’ vital oil export pipeline.
“We have the tap. The moment we close the tap, then it’s done,” he was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
He also said his country could close completely the sole border crossing with the region. Traffic there, he said, was currently only being allowed to cross from the Turkish side.
Late on Monday, Iraqi and Turkish officials announced they would hold joint military drills in Turkey in an area bordering the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Iran called the vote “illegal”, having banned all flights to and from the Kurdish region a day earlier.
UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed concern about the “potentially destabilising effects” of the vote.
BBC