Kurds began casting ballots on Monday in a historic referendum on independence from Iraq despite vigorous opposition from the country’s central government as well as regional and world powers.

Starting at about 8 a.m., church bells tolled and imams implored Kurds to go out and vote over mosque loud speakers when polls opened across the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Local news showed prominent Kurdish figures casting their ballots, proudly displaying the purple ink on their fingers indicating they had fulfilled what they described as a national duty that will begin a slow process of secession from the Iraqi state.

The poll is expected to produce an overwhelming “yes” vote for independence that many Kurds see as the culmination of a century-long and bloody struggle for self-determination.

But the vote has proved to be unpopular with the both the Kurdish Regional Government’s rivals and allies. The Iraqi central government, along with the United States, Iran and Turkey, have called the referendum illegitimate and have vowed not to recognize its results, saying it is a dangerous step toward the division of the country.

The United States, a traditionally strong ally of Iraq’s Kurds which helped them secure a self-ruled enclave in northern Iraq in 1991, has said the timing of the referendum threatens the fight against the Islamic State as the militant group is on its last legs. American officials also worry the Kurdish move will weaken Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ahead of national elections next year while empowering sectarian political forces.

Iraq and the United States were especially troubled by the Kurdish decision to include areas like oil-rich Kirkuk, cities which are ethnically mixed and have been historically claimed by both Kurds and Arabs.

Iran and Turkey, in particular, fear the vote will inspire similar separatist sentiments among their own sizable and restive Kurdish populations. Both countries have held military exercises along their borders with the Kurdistan region ahead of Monday’s vote.

In a sign of the regional spillover from the vote, Turkey’s president, Reçep Tayyip Erdogan, said a key border post was closed between Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdish region. He further threatened that Turkey could cut off a pipeline carrying oil from northern Iraq to outside markets.

“We have the tap. The moment we close the tap, then it’s done,” Erdogan said in Istanbul on Monday.

He also warned Turkish troops were ready to take “necessary steps,” but gave no further hints of possible action. In the past, Turkey has sent troops into northern Iraq to target bases of Kurdish separatists.

Iran on Sunday closed its airspace to flights to and from Iraqi Kurdish cities administered by the semiautonomous Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq — while Iraq’s central government demanded all ports and oil terminals in the Kurdish controlled areas be handed back to federal custody.

As the polls opened on Monday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a terse statement calling the referendum “a grave mistake” that will lead to sanctions if the KRG leadership to “do not restore common sense and should adopt a policy that serves the long term peace and prosperity of the whole of the Iraqi people, rather than seeking short term political interests and utopian aspirations.”

The statement added that Turkey was ready to take “all measures arising from international law” if the referendum resulted in a threat to Turkey’s security.

On Sunday, KRG President Masoud Barzani, whose party and powerful political family have been the primary engine behind the independence push, said the vote is the beginning of a years-long separation process from Iraq that he hopes will be achieved through dialogue and negotiations.

Baghdad, on the other hand, has accused Barzani of acting unilaterally and abandoning negotiations over revenue-sharing, borders and oil sales. Abadi on Sunday said in a nationally televised speech that the vote was a cynical move to distract Kurds from a financial crisis that has seen public salaries go unpaid for years and accused the KRG of widespread corruption.

U.S. officials have privately expressed frustration that the referendum is a vehicle to keep Barzani in power. Barzani’s term expired in 2015 but he has refused to step down — although he has indicated he will not run in elections scheduled for November.

The referendum was not initially backed by all Kurdish parties but as international opposition grew, internal disputes over its timing were settled and the vast majority of the Kurdish political class has come out in support of the vote.

Source: AFP