Erdogan renews threats over Kurdish oil
Turkey's president has renewed threats to disrupt the exportation of Iraqi Kurdish oil and invoked Russian cooperation in doing so, despite Russian claims of non-interference.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed threats to shut down a pipeline carrying Iraqi Kurdish oil, upending claims that he has toned down his rhetoric over the controversial referendum on Kurdish independence and adding Russia to the mix.
Briefing reporters on his flight home from a one-day trip to Iran yesterday, Erdogan said, “If a decision is made on closing oil taps in the region, it will be made by us. Turkey, Iran and Iraq’s central government will do so together.”
Erdogan went even further today, telling a group of community leaders from Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast region gathered at the presidential complex in Ankara, “Now all the airspace is going to be closed, flights have already been banned [by the central government in Baghdad]. Who is going to come? Who is going to leave? Soon the [Iraqi Kurdish] borders will be closed. How will you go in and out?”
The questions were directed at the Iraqi Kurdistan's president, Massoud Barzani.
