Erdogan just announced intent to STARVE the Kurds out

[Anthea]

Erdogan has just announced that he intends to STARVE the Kurds out

I have only just heard the headlines on a new channel now trying to find details

[Piling]

Good for my diet, lol.

Poor little kittens without Turkish chicken.

[Anthea]

Iraqi Kurds must give up on independence or go hungry - Erdogan

Turkey's president has said Iraqi Kurds could go hungry as a result of the punitive measures it is considering after Monday's independence referendum.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government of "treachery" for pressing ahead with the vote despite international opposition.

Massoud Barzani should now "give up on this adventure", he said.

Mr Erdogan has previously threatened to cut a vital Kurdish oil pipeline and stop lorries crossing Turkey's border.

Turkey fears that the emergence of an independent Kurdish state on its border will stoke separatist feeling in its own Kurdish minority.

The results of the referendum are yet to be declared, but a "yes" vote is expected.

Kurdish leaders say that would not automatically trigger a declaration of independence, but rather give them a mandate to start negotiations on secession with the central government in Baghdad and with neighbouring countries.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ruled out any such talks on Monday night, saying he would not discuss the referendum's results because it was "unconstitutional".

'Sabre-rattling for domestic audience'
By Mark Lowen, Turkey correspondent, BBC News

This was the strongest rhetoric yet from President Erdogan on the Kurdish referendum. He called it "treachery" and a "threat to national security". Once again he threatened military or economic intervention, without elaborating.

Turkey is worried that independence might further Kurdish insurgency here and is concerned for ethnic Turkmen in the city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to be part of any future state. But there was a lot for a domestic audience - sabre-rattling to please nationalists at home.

Ankara has built a strong relationship with the Iraqi Kurds through an oil pipeline that feeds the Kurdish economy and Turkey's energy needs. And the authorities in Irbil oppose the PKK Kurdish militant group, allowing Turkish military bases in northern Iraq. Mr Erdogan warned he could close the oil valves in Turkey - but it has not yet happened.

With Turkey's notoriously abrasive president, the oratory sometimes does not actually translate into action.

Iraqi Kurdish referendum: What is at stake?
Iraqi Kurdistan profile

In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Erdogan said he had expected "until the last moment" that Kurdistan Regional President Massoud
Barzani would postpone the vote

"If Barzani and the Kurdish Regional Government do not go back on this mistake as soon as possible, they will go down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war," he warned.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey, which has long been the Kurdistan Region's main link to the outside world, might now impose sanctions to persuade Mr Barzani's administration to "give up on this adventure that can only have a dark end".

"It will be over when we close the oil taps, all [their] revenues will vanish, and they will not be able to find food when our trucks stop going to northern Iraq," he added.

Cross-border trade between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey was worth some $5bn (£3.7bn) in the first six months of 2017, according to Kurdish officials, while hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil flow daily through a pipeline from Kurdish-controlled oil fields to the Mediterranean via Turkish territory.

Iraqi soldiers also joined Turkish troops for military exercises in south-eastern Turkey on Monday, near the border with Iraq.

The US earlier said it was "deeply disappointed" that the Kurdistan Region held the referendum, but stressed that their "historic relationship" would not change.

The referendum was held in the three Iraqi provinces that make up the Kurdistan Region, as well as in adjoining disputed areas claimed by the Kurds and the Arab-led central government that are controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported that 72% of the 5.2 million Kurds and non-Kurds registered as resident in those areas had voted. Ballots were still being counted on Tuesday, with initial results expected by the end of the day.

Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.

In Iraq, where they make up an estimated 15% to 20% of the population of 37 million, Kurds faced decades of repression before acquiring autonomy in 1991.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41398199

[Anthea]

Erdogan should look at the way he is treating Kurds in Turkey and think VERY carefully about what he says and does next

[Anthea]

Kurdistan referendum: Erdogan says Iraqi Kurds risk ‘ethnic war’ and threatens military response to vote

Turkish president - fearful a 'yes' result will stroke separatist appetites in his own country - threatens he will let Iraq's Kurds 'starve' with economic sanctions and border closures if controversial referendum threatens Turkish security

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that the referendum on support for independence for Iraqi Kurdistan next door risks sparking an "ethnic war" in the region.

In a speech at the presidential palace in Ankara on Tuesday, Mr Erdogan reiterated that all options, including the military, are on the table to protect Turkey's security.

He also repeated his Monday threat to cut off the pipeline which exports the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq's oil across the Turkish border.

The KRG's 8.4 million strong population took to the polls on Monday to vote on whether to separate from Baghdad in a referendum not recognised by the central government. Turnout is believed to have been high, at around 72 per cent, and local television said 90 per cent of votes had been cast as “yes” to independence. Results are expected at the latest by Wednesday.

"Until the very last moment, we weren't expecting Barzani to make such a mistake as holding the referendum. Apparently we were wrong," Mr Erdogan said, referring to KRG President Masoud Barzani. "This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery."

Kurdistan's only mistake was in leaving it so long before claiming their right to their own land

Iraq's Kurds would starve, he added, if Turkey decided to close its long border with northern Iraq, warning that economic and military action were both options on the table for Ankara.

The Kurdish people – who number roughly 30 million across several countries – were left stateless when the Ottoman Empire collapsed a century ago.

Iraq's neighbours Turkey and Iran also have significant Kurdish populations. Ankara and Tehran are worried that the creation of an independent Kurdistan could fuel the desire for Kurdish independence within their own countries.

[color=#0000FF][size=110]Kurdish land was STOLEN from them and there have been many attacks on Kurds from ALL the invading countries

While it has been met with enthusiasm by the Kurdish diaspora all over the world, Baghdad and Iraq's Arab population have expressed their concerns that areas voting in the referendum include Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed and oil-rich province.

Increasing unrest there in recent days has led to worries that the likely "yes" result could lead to Arab-Kurdish violence.

"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 in a speech on Monday night.

Ths US also repeatedly attempted to persuade the KRG to delay the referendum, fearing further friction between Irbil and Baghdad could derail the fight against Isis and Iraq's fragile peace.

Meanwhile, Iraqi soldiers joined Turkish troops for military exercises in Turkey's southeast, near the KRG border. And Kurdish Rudaw TV was also taken off the air, a broadcasting official told Reuters.

In Irbil, however, the mood on Monday was jubilant, with public referendum celebrations continuing late into the night and beginning again on Tuesday.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 67566.html