SULAIMANIYAH, Iraqi Kurdistan Region — Relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) went frosty when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened the Erbil administration with stopping oil flows and closing the border crossings in the aftermath of the highly controversial Kurdish independence referendum.
“Where will the KRG sell or send its oil from now on? The valve is in our hands. The minute we turn it off, there is nothing else to do,” Erdogan said in September 2017.