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Turnout high as Iraqi Kurds defy threats to hold independence vote

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Iraqis Kurds celebrate with the Kurdish flag in the streets of the northern city of Kirkuk on September 25, 2017 as they vote in a referendum on independence. (AFP / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)
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Iraqis Kurds celebrate with drums and the Kurdish flag in the streets of the northern city of Kirkuk on September 25, 2017 as they vote in a referendum on independence. (AFP / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)
Updated 25 September 2017
Maher Chmaytelli and Michael Georgy | Reuters
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Turnout high as Iraqi Kurds defy threats to hold independence vote

Updated 25 September 2017
Maher Chmaytelli and Michael Georgy | Reuters

IRBIL/SULAIMANIYA, Iraq: Kurds voted in large numbers in an independence referendum in northern Iraq on Monday, ignoring pressure from Baghdad, threats from Turkey and Iran, and international warnings that the vote may ignite yet more regional conflict.
The vote organized by Kurdish authorities is expected to deliver a comfortable “yes” for independence, but is not binding. However, it is designed to give Masoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a mandate to negotiate the secession of the oil-producing region.
Turnout was 76 percent an hour before voting closed, the Kurdish Rudaw TV station said.
For Iraqi Kurds — the largest ethnic group left stateless when the Ottoman empire collapsed a century ago — the referendum offers a historic opportunity despite intense international pressure to call it off.
“We have seen worse, we have seen injustice, killings and blockades,” said Talat, waiting to vote in the regional capital of Irbil, as a group of smiling women, in colorful Kurdish dress, emerged from the school showing their fingers stained with ink, a sign that they voted.
At Sheikh Amir village, near the Peshmerga front lines west of Irbil, long lines of Kurdish fighters waited to vote at a former school. Most emerged smiling, holding up ink-marked fingers.
In the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, Kurds sang and danced as they flocked to polling stations.
Opposition to the vote has been simmering among the Arabs and Turkmen who live alongside the Kurds in the northern Iraqi city and there had been rumors that the vote would not take place in mixed areas. Officials later ordered an overnight curfew.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi ordered security services “to protect citizens being threatened and coerced” in the Kurdish region, after unconfirmed reports that Arabs in a small town in eastern Iraq were compelled to vote yes. Kurdish officials say no such coercion happened.
In Baghdad, lawyer Adil Salman said the referendum resulted from the weakness of the Iraqi government. “The scenario we’re seeing now is of state disintegration,” he said.

The Kurds also say the vote acknowledges their contribution in confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army in 2014 and seized control of a third of Iraq.
But with 30 million ethnic Kurds scattered over international borders across the region, Tehran and Ankara fear the spread of separatism to their own Kurdish populations.
President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey could cut off the pipeline that carries oil from northern Iraq to the outside world, piling more pressure on the Kurds.
“After this, let’s see through which channels the northern Iraqi regional government will send its oil, or where it will sell it,” Erdogan said in Istanbul. “We have the tap. The moment we close the tap, then it’s done.”
Turkey later took the Rudaw television channel off its satellite service TurkSat, a Turkish broadcasting official told Reuters.
The US State Department warned the Kurds last week that “holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilising.”
The referendum is taking place not only in the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq, but also in areas in the north of the country where Kurdish forces have advanced against Islamic State. These areas also have large non-Kurdish populations.
Turkey said it did not recognize the referendum and would view its outcome as null and void, adding that the Iraqi Kurdish government was threatening the peace and stability of Iraq and the whole region.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said his government was evaluating possible punitive steps regarding its border with northern Iraq and air space in response to the vote.
Erdogan said traffic was only being allowed to cross from the Turkish side of the border into Kurdishh areas of Iraq.
Ankara’s forces are again fighting a Kurdish insurgency in Turkey following the collapse of a peace process.

Flight ban
Iran announced a ban on direct flights to and from Kurdistan on Sunday, while Baghdad asked foreign countries to stop direct oil trading with the Kurdish region and demanded that the KRG hands over control of its international airports and border posts with Iran, Turkey and Syria.
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, said Iran regarded the referendum as “treason” against the Iraqi Kurds.
“Iran has blocked air traffic to this region but we are hopeful that the four neighboring countries will block the land borders with Iraq too,” he was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
Tehran supports Shiite groups who have been ruling or holding security and government positions in Iraq since the US-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Syria, embroiled in a devastating civil war and whose Kurds are pressing ahead with their own self-determination, rejected the referendum.
Iraqi Kurdish prime Minister Nechirvan Barxani said he hoped to maintain good relations with Turkey and the referendum was not a threat to Ankara.
“The referendum does not mean independence will happen tomorrow, nor are we redrawing borders,” he said in Irbil. “If the ‘Yes’ vote wins, we will resolve our issues with Baghdad peacefully.”

Opposition
Opposition to the vote has emerged among non-Kurdish populations in areas disputed by the KRG and Baghdad, mainly the oil-rich region of Kirkuk.
“Iraq is against the Kurds, so are the Turks, the Iranians, the whole Arab region and Europe. They are going to live in a cage,” said Mohammed Mahdi Al-Bayati, a Shiite Turkmen and a local leader of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization paramilitary group in Tuz Khurmato, south of Kirkuk.
In Sulaimaniya, a center for political groups opposed to Barzani, queues at polling stations were shorter than in Irbil. There were fewer billboards celebrating the referendum, reflecting resentment that a yes vote could be seen as a plebiscite for the Kurdish leader.
“I will not vote, the referendum is not good, and it could be dangerous because of the threat from Turkey and Iran,” said a shop owner in Sulaimaniya, Ali Ahmed.
After World War I, Britain and France carved up the Ottoman empire, leaving the Kurds scattered mainly over four countries: Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.
All of them suffered persecution and were often denied the right to speak their language. Those in Iraq were uprooted under Saddam and suffered an attack using chemical weapons.

Polling stations
Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) and were supposed to close at 6:00 p.m., although voting continued in some areas. Final results were expected within 72 hours.
Voting is open to all registered residents, Kurds and non-Kurds, in the Kurdish-held areas of northern Iraq aged 18 and over, according to the referendum commission.
There are about 5.2 million eligible voters, including those living abroad who began voting two days ago.
Voters should tick yes or no on the ballot asking them just one question in Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Assyrian: “do you want the Kurdistan Region and Kurdistani areas outside the (Kurdistan) Region to become an independent country?"

Topics: kurdish independence referendum KRG Kurdistan Iraq Irbil Kirkuk Masoud Barzani

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US air force looks to upgrade Cyprus air base as humanitarian staging post for the Middle East

Updated 24 January 2025
AP
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US air force looks to upgrade Cyprus air base as humanitarian staging post for the Middle East

  • Cyprus, which is only 184 km from the Lebanese capital, has served as a transit point for the repatriation of foreign nationals fleeing conflict in the Mideast
  • The Cyprus government agreed to the air base upgrade assessment following the recent deployment of a US Marine contingent at the base
Updated 24 January 2025
AP

NICOSIA, Cyprus: Experts from the US Air Force are looking at ways to upgrade Cyprus’ premier air base for use as a humanitarian staging post in future operations in the Middle East, a Cypriot official told The Associated Press Thursday.
Cyprus, which is only 184 kilometers (114 miles) from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has acted as a transit point for the repatriation of foreign nationals fleeing conflict in the Middle East and beyond on numerous occasions in the past. It has also served as a transit point for humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Experts from the 435th Contingency Response Group based out of Ramstein, Germany, will spend the next few days at Andreas Papandreou Air Force Base to assess the upgrade needed to accommodate a wide array of US air assets and other forces.
A key priority is to ensure air traffic safety in and around the base, which abuts the island’s second-largest civilian airport, the official said. The base’s location makes it easy to transfer evacuees onto civilian aircraft at the adjacent airport for their trip home.
The official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to speak publicly about the details of the experts’ visit.
Air traffic safety would need to be enhanced through new high-tech installations, including state-of-the-art radar, to ensure the independent operation of civilian and military aircraft at safe distances.
“The Americans are very specific on safety issues and want to make some upgrades to further improve the base’s safety,” the official said.
Other essential upgrades include expanding both the base itself and the runway to accommodate more transport and fighter aircraft. Hardened shelters to protect those air assets are also envisioned.
The Cyprus government agreed to the air base upgrade assessment following the recent deployment of a US Marine contingent at the base. The Marines, who were equipped with V-22 Osprey tiltrotor military transport and cargo aircraft, were on stand-by in the event of a swift evacuation of US citizens from nearby Lebanon during Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah targets late last year.
Deputy government spokesman Yannis Antoniou told the state broadcaster Thursday that any use of the base by the forces of the US or other nations would require prior Cyprus government approval. He insisted the air base would not act as a forward base for military strike operations against targets in the region.
“We’ve shown interest in working with (US Forces) because we consider this to serve the vital interests of the Cyprus Republic,” Antoniou said, adding that in their report, the USAF experts will offer an estimate of the upgrade costs and which percentage of those the US government would be willing to cover.
Bilateral relations between European Union member Cyprus and the US, especially in terms of military cooperation, have grown significantly over the last few years following a pledge by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides to affirm the ethnically divided country’s “clear Western orientation.”
A manifestation of those ties was last week’s directive by former President Joe Biden that allows Cyprus to buy arms from the US government and get surplus American military equipment.
The Cypriot government noted the development as a tangible acknowledgment of Cyprus’ reliability as a US partner in the region.

Topics: Cyprus US Air Force

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US Secretary of State Rubio backs ‘inclusive’ transition in Syria in call with Turkiye

Updated 24 January 2025
AFP
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US Secretary of State Rubio backs ‘inclusive’ transition in Syria in call with Turkiye

  • Rubio’s comments signal a consistency with his predecessor Antony Blinken, who used similar language as he called on Syria’s new leaders to protect minority rights and not pose a threat to neighboring countries
Updated 24 January 2025
AFP

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for an inclusive transition in Syria after the fall of leader Bashar Assad, in a call with powerbroker Turkiye, the State Department said Thursday.
Rubio’s comments signal a consistency with his predecessor Antony Blinken, who on a trip to the region last month used similar language as he called on Syria’s new leaders to protect minority rights and not pose a threat to neighboring countries.
In a call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan that took place Wednesday, Rubio “highlighted the need for an inclusive transition in Syria,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
Rubio also called for “ensuring that the new government prevents Syria from becoming a source for international terrorism, and denying foreign malign actors the opportunity to exploit Syria’s transition for their own objectives,” she said.
Assad, allied with Iran and Russia, had ruthlessly crushed an uprising that erupted in 2011 but was swiftly deposed last month in a lightning raid by Turkish-backed rebels formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Turkish-backed fighters have been battling Kurdish forces in Syria, who allied with the United States in the battle against the Daesh (IS) extremist group but who Ankara associates with Kurdish militants at home.
 

Topics: Fall of Assad Marco Rubio Hakan Fidan

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Smog chokes Baghdad as oil-fired factories belch out smoke

Updated 24 January 2025
AFP
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Smog chokes Baghdad as oil-fired factories belch out smoke

Updated 24 January 2025
AFP
BAGHDAD: Iraqi grocery store owner Abu Amjad Al-Zubaidi is grappling with asthma, a condition his doctor blames on emissions from a nearby power plant that fills his Baghdad neighborhood with noxious smoke.
In winter, a thick smog frequently envelops the city of nine million people as the fumes belched out by its many oil-fired factories are trapped by a layer of cold air.
The stench of sulfur permeates some districts, where brick and asphalt factories run on heavy fuel oil, taking advantage of generous state subsidies in the world’s sixth biggest oil producer.
In a bid to tackle the worsening air quality, authorities recently shut down dozens of oil-fired factories and instructed others to phase out their use of heavy fuel oil.
“Every time I went to the doctor he told me to stop smoking. But I don’t smoke,” Zubaidi told AFP.
When his doctor finally realized that Zubaidi lived just meters from the Dora power plant in south Baghdad, he told him its emissions were the likely cause of his asthma.
Power plants and refineries spew thick grey smoke over several areas of Baghdad.
“We can’t go up to our roofs because of the fumes,” Zubaidi said.
“We appealed to the prime minister, the government and parliament. Lawmakers have come to see us but to no avail,” the 53-year-old complained.
He is not the only victim of air pollution. Many of his neighbors suffer from chronic asthma or allergies, he said.
Waste incineration and the proliferation of private generators in the face of patchy mains supply also contribute significantly to Baghdad’s air pollution.


In 2023, the air monitoring site IQAir ranked Iraq as the sixth most polluted country in terms of air quality.
Levels of the cancer-causing PM2.5 pollutants, microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs, are seven to 10 times the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline values.
IQAir warned that exposure to PM2.5 “leads to and exacerbates numerous health conditions, including but not limited to asthma, cancer, stroke and lung disease.”
It found that air pollution levels in Baghdad were “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
According to the US embassy, air quality in the capital frequently enters the red zone, leading to “health effects,” particularly for vulnerable groups.
In October, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani ordered a committee to investigate the causes of the “odorous sulfur emissions” so that they can be stopped.
Environment ministry spokesperson Amir Ali attributed the pollution to “industrial activities near the capital” — particularly the brickworks and asphalt plants in the Nahrawan industrial zone in southeast Baghdad.
There lie “the largest number of factories responsible for the emissions,” he said.
Ali also blamed private generators and refineries, including in Dora.
The pollution was exacerbated by “weather conditions, shifts in temperature, the direction of the wind, and increased humidity,” his ministry said.


In December, authorities announced the closure of 111 brickworks “due to emissions” that breach environmental standards, along with 57 asphalt plants in the Nahrawan industrial zone.
The industry ministry has also instructed brickworks to phase out their use of heavy fuel oil within 18 months and replace it with liquefied natural gas.
The government has banned waste incineration inside and outside landfills and has said it will improve “fuel quality at Dora refinery and address gas emissions and wastewater discharges.”
Iraq is one of the world’s largest oil producers, and sales of crude oil account for 90 percent of state revenues, so its transition to renewable fuels remains a distant goal.
Environmental activist Husam Sobhi urged authorities to keep up their efforts to phase out heavy fuel oil.
“It is difficult for a country like Iraq to let go of oil but we can use better quality oil than heavy fuel oil,” Sobhi said.
He also called on planning authorities to put a stop to the city’s sprawl into the surrounding countryside.
“Baghdad is in dire need of a green belt which would serve as a lung for the city to breathe,” he said.

’Living in a cage’: West Bank checkpoints proliferate after Gaza truce

Updated 24 January 2025
AFP
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’Living in a cage’: West Bank checkpoints proliferate after Gaza truce

  • According to the Palestinian Wall Resistance Commission, 146 iron gates were erected around the West Bank after the Gaza war began
Updated 24 January 2025
AFP

TAYBEH, Palestinian Territories: Father Bashar Basiel moved freely in and out of his parish in the occupied West Bank until Israeli troops installed gates at the entrance of his village Taybeh overnight, just hours after a ceasefire began in Gaza.
“We woke up and we were surprised to see that we have the iron gates in our entrance of Taybeh, on the roads that are going to Jericho, to Jerusalem, to Nablus,” said Basiel, a Catholic priest in the Christian village north of Ramallah.
All over the West Bank, commuters have been finding that their journey to work takes much longer since the Gaza ceasefire started.
“We have not lived such a difficult situation (in terms of movement) since the Second Intifada,” Basiel told AFP in reference to a Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.
He said he was used to the checkpoints, which are dotted along the separation barrier that cuts through much of the West Bank and at the entrances to Palestinian towns and cities.
But while waiting times got longer in the aftermath of the October 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war, now it has become almost impossible to move between cities and villages in the West Bank.
Left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israeli authorities ordered the military to operate dozens of checkpoints around the West Bank during the first 42 days of the ceasefire.
According to the Palestinian Wall Resistance Commission, 146 iron gates were erected around the West Bank after the Gaza war began, 17 of them in January alone, bringing the total number of roadblocks in the Palestinian territory to 898.
“Checkpoints are still checkpoints, but the difference now is that they’ve enclosed us with gates. That’s the big change,” said Anas Ahmad, who found himself stuck in traffic for hours on his way home after a usually open road near the university town of Birzeit was closed.
Hundreds of drivers were left idling on the road out of the city as they waited for the Israeli soldiers to allow them through.
The orange metal gates Ahmad was referring to are a lighter version of full checkpoints, which usually feature a gate and concrete shelters for soldiers checking drivers’ IDs or searching their vehicles.
“The moment the truce was signed, everything changed 180 degrees. The Israeli government is making the Palestinian people pay the price,” said Ahmad, a policeman who works in Ramallah.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani did not comment on whether there had been an increase in the number of checkpoints but said the military used them to arrest wanted Palestinian militants.
“We make sure that the terrorists do not get away but the civilians have a chance to get out or go wherever they want and have their freedom of movement,” he said in a media briefing on Wednesday.
Basiel said that now, when the gates are closed, “I have to wait, or I have to take another way” into Taybeh, a quiet village known for its brewery.
He said that on Monday people waited in their cars from 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 am while each vehicle entering the village was meticulously checked.
Another Ramallah area resident, who preferred not to be named for security reasons, compared his new environment to that of a caged animal.
“It’s like rabbits living in a cage. In the morning they can go out, do things, then in the evening they have to go home to the cage,” he said.
Shadi Zahod, a government employee who commutes daily between Salfit and Ramallah, felt similarly constrained.
“It’s as if they’re sending us a message: stay trapped in your town, don’t go anywhere,” he told AFP.
“Since the truce, we’ve been paying the price in every Palestinian city,” he said, as his wait at a checkpoint in Birzeit dragged into a third hour.
Before approving the Gaza ceasefire, Israel’s security cabinet reportedly added to its war goals the “strengthening of security” in the West Bank.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel “is merely shifting its focus from Gaza to other areas it controls in the West Bank.”
A 2019 academic paper by Jerusalem’s Applied Research Institute estimated that at the time Palestinians lost 60 million work hours per year to restrictions.
But for Basiel, the worst impact is an inability to plan even a day ahead.
“The worst thing that we are facing now, is that we don’t have any vision for the near future, even tomorrow.”

Topics: West Bank Palestine Israel

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‘Killed, maimed, frozen to death’: UN Security Council meets to discuss plight of Gaza’s kids

Updated 24 January 2025
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‘Killed, maimed, frozen to death’: UN Security Council meets to discuss plight of Gaza’s kids

  • UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher tells council members of urgent need for donations to meet $4bn funding target for 2025
  • The growing struggles of civilians in the West Bank must also not be ignored, he adds
Updated 24 January 2025
Ephrem Kossaify

NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s humanitarian chief on Thursday called for urgent action to protect children in Gaza and ensure their well-being amid the fragile ceasefire and ongoing humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss “the plight of children in the Gaza Strip,” Tom Fletcher emphasized the scale of suffering among Palestinian youngsters there as he urged the international community to ensure the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas holds, and to scale up deliveries of humanitarian aid.

Fletcher said the ceasefire deal, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the US, has brought a temporary reprieve for civilians, and is allowing Israeli hostages and detained Palestinians to be reunited with their families.

The truce has also enabled a surge in the amount of life-saving humanitarian assistance entering Gaza, providing a glimmer of hope for the millions of residents suffering as a result of the conflict.

“We can save more lives if all parties continue to honor the deal,” Fletcher said, thanking the mediators for their tireless efforts to facilitate the agreement and address the operational challenges in its implementation.

The 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have taken a profound toll on the children in the territory, the suffering of whom reached catastrophic proportions during that time, he added.

Fletcher painted a harrowing picture of the devastating effects of the conflict on the children of Gaza. Thousands lost their lives, an estimated 17,000 have been left without their families, and many more were injured or are suffering from malnutrition and psychological trauma.

He gave examples of the cruel conditions under which young people have been forced to lived, cited instances of unborn children perishing with their mothers, and detailed the desperate plight of more than 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers who are in urgent need of healthcare.

“The children of Gaza have been killed, starved, maimed, orphaned and separated from their families,” Fletcher said as he condemned the violence and deprivation. “A generation has been traumatized.”

Aside from the physical harm, children have endured deep psychological scars, with UNICEF estimating that 1 million youngsters are in need of mental health support for anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

“Many have faced sexual violence,” Fletcher said. “Girls, who have endured the additional indignity of no access to menstrual care, have been left exposed and vulnerable.”

The war has had devastating effects on education as well, with schools destroyed and many children denied access to learning, he added.

But despite the overwhelming challenges, the international humanitarian community has made significant strides in the days since the ceasefire came into effect on Sunday, Fletcher said.

He highlighted the increased flow of aid into Gaza, including food, medical supplies and fuel, which has enabled critical services to resume or continue operating.

With the UN Relief and Works Agency at the forefront of the efforts, humanitarian agencies have scaled up their operations, delivering emergency shelter to protect people from the winter weather, food and life-saving medical care.

“We are getting supplies to designated emergency shelters and distribution centers across the Gaza Strip,” Fletcher said.

“We are delivering food parcels, distributing fuel to ensure that healthcare and water systems can function, and reopening bakeries to help meet basic nutritional needs.”

While these efforts are vital, Fletcher stressed that they will only be able continue with sustained funding and unimpeded access.

He appealed to UN member states to help replenish humanitarian stockpiles and called for greater involvement of the private sector to meet the needs of the 2 million residents of Gaza.

Fletcher stressed the urgent need for donations to help meet the $4.07 billion target of the UN’s 2025 Flash Appeal, to help address the needs of 3 million people in Gaza and the West Bank. Almost 90 percent of the total is needed for the humanitarian response in Gaza alone.

But while much of the international attention has focused on the Strip, Fletcher also warned the Security Council about the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, where violence and displacement have reached unprecedented levels since October 2023.

He described attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages, and ongoing military operations, particularly in Jenin, that have displaced thousands and caused significant damage to infrastructure.

“The situation in the West Bank must not be ignored,” Fletcher said. “We need to ensure that humanitarian aid and protection reach those in need, and that international law is respected.”

He once again urged council members to ensure the ceasefire holds, and that the flow of aid continues to those in need, in both Gaza and the West Bank. He called for the protection of Palestinian civilians, the release of all hostages and detainees, and unimpeded access for humanitarian workers.

“The children of Gaza are not collateral damage,” Fletcher said. “They are as deserving as children everywhere of security, education and hope. We must be there for them now, when they need us most.”

Topics: War on Gaza UN Security Council Palestine Israel

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