“When will Massoud Barzani resign?” The question posed by pro-government columnist Yahya Bostan in the English-language Daily Sabah suggests that Turkey is cranking up pressure against the Iraqi Kurdistan's president over the referendum on Kurdish independence that was held on Sept. 25 over the objections of Turkey, Baghdad, Iran and the United States.

Bostan wrote in his column today, “In a recent phone call between the prime ministers of Turkey and Iraq, the leaders reportedly agreed to cut the [Kurdistan Regional Government's] oil exports and have Baghdad compensate Turkey for its losses. Similar steps have been taken with Iran.” In a further bombshell, Bostan claimed, “Turkish officials, in particular, indicate that canceling the referendum results won’t be enough. Normalization, they argue, cannot take place until Massoud Barzani steps down and is replaced by another politician.”

Bostan, whose brother, Mehmet, until recently ran Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, is known to be plugged into Erdogan’s inner circle, notably with the president’s son-in-law, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak. Thus his claims possibly do reflect Erdogan’s thinking. If so, Barzani may be facing a far bigger challenge than anticipated because Turkey has more immediate leverage than any over Iraqi Kurdistan.

Some 550,000 barrels per day of crude, the cash-strapped statelet’s main source of income, are exported via a pipeline that runs to export terminals on the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The Habur border crossing with Turkey is Iraqi Kurdistan’s sole outlet to the West. Habur is used to ferry all manner of supplies that help to keep Iraqi Kurdistan’s fragile economy afloat. Over 2,000 Turkish troops dug in across the northern areas of Iraqi Kurdistan could complicate matters further.