Erdogan: Kurdish vote risks ‘ethnic and sectarian war’

Turkish leader threatens to impose sanctions, a day after semi-autonomous Iraqi region holds controversial referendum.

Turkey’s president has warned of an “ethnic and sectarian” war in response to the referendum in the Iraqi Kurdish region, while the Iraqi prime minister has ruled out talks with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the outcome of the controversial vote.

In a televised speech from Ankara on Tuesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to impose sanctions against the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, saying it “will be left in a lurch” and its people would go hungry.

“If [Iraqi Kurd leader Masoud] 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,” Erdogan said.

The comments came as Iraqi troops joined the Turkish army for joint military exercises near Turkey’s border with northern Iraq.

Turkey has long been northern Iraq’s main link to the outside world, but sees the referendum as a threat to its own national security, fearing it will inflame separatism among its own Kurdish population.

“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,” Erdogan said.

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