“This is the border between Turkey and Iraq, not a border between Turkey and the Kurdish authorities,” Cavusoglu told France 24 in an interview published on Friday. “With regards to border control issue, our counterpart is Baghdad. Therefore, the requests and the decisions and actions of Baghdad will be the basis for Turkey’s decisions and actions as well.”
The oil-dependent Kurdistan Region exports its oil to international markets through a pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously threatened to close the pipeline in retaliation for Kurdistan proceeding with the referendum despite warnings against it from Ankara, Baghdad, and the international community.
Cavusoglu said that if a request came from Baghdad to close its borders and shut off the Kurdistan Region’s oil supply that Turkey would seriously consider it as they see Baghdad as their counterpart, not Kurdish authorities.
Asked if Ankara really believed that Israeli’s intelligence, Mossad, engineered the Kurdish referendum, the FM said that only Israel supported the Kurdish vote.
“The whole world called on the [Kurdish] authorities to cancel or suspend or postpone the referendum but he [Masoud Barzani] did it,” Cavusoglu said. “The support came only from Israel, from Netanyahu and a few other political figures.”
He alleged that there have been photos circulated showing that Barzani was working with Mossad agents.
“This is the impression that we got,” Cavusoglu added but didn’t elaborate.
Regarding other sanctions placed on the Kurdistan Region, the Turkish FM said, “The airspace has already been closed upon the decision of Iraq. Therefore, there are no flights between Turkey and Erbil or Sulaimani.”
Iraq has also cemented military ties with both of the Kurdistan Region’s neighbors – Iran and Turkey – in the wake of the vote.
Iraqi forces have conducted joint military drills with both nations in sight of the Kurdistan Region’s borders in the days before and after the vote.
In a joint Turkish-Iranian statement after recent meetings between their leaders in Tehran, the two nations expressed their support for Baghdad and told Kurdish authorities to “avoid actions that would damage the constitutional system as well as the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq.”
