As Kurdish Borders Close, War of Words Heats Up<br />"We want this to be a peaceful transition, but if Baghdad decides not, there is a lot we can also do." Mr. Ali was critical of threats by Baghdad to ask Turkey to cut a vital oil pipeline, which provides most of the estimated $8 billion the Kurdish region earns annually from oil revenue,<br />and a request from the Iraqi parliament to move troops into the oil-rich, Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk.<br />Overseas flights were canceled on Friday from the international airport in Erbil, hours before a ban by the<br />Iraqi government took effect, while officials in Baghdad warned that land borders might also be closed.<br />Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence in a referendum on Monday, which<br />Mr. Ali said obliges Mr. Barzani to negotiate independence from the rest of Iraq.<br />We can also close the Erbil International Airport to domestic flights, to Baghdad<br />and Najaf." That, he said, would hurt many Iraqi officials whose family members live in the Kurdish region.<br />The Iraqi ban took effect at 6 p.m. Prime Minister Abadi’s office released a statement<br />that the Kurdish region’s two international airports, in Erbil and Suleimaniya, could be reopened as soon as Kurdish officials transferred control of them to the federal government.
