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IRBIL: The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq refused to relinquish control of its border crossings to the Iraqi government, Irbil-based TV Rudaw said on Friday, citing a KRG official.
Relinquishing control over border crossings with Turkey, Iran and Syria was a demand made by Iraq, Iran and Turkey in retaliation for the Kurdish independence referendum held on Monday in northern Iraq.
Backed by Ankara and Tehran, the Iraqi government has demanded that the Kurdish leadership cancel the result of the referendum or face sanctions, international isolation and possibly a military intervention.
An embargo on direct international travel to Kurdistan has been imposed by the Iraqi government to force the KRG to hand over the control of its airports to Baghdad.
Talar Saleh, the general director of Irbil International Airport, said Kurdish authorities were unaware of how to comply with Baghdad’s demand to hand the airport over to federal authorities before Friday evening in order to avert the threatened flight ban.
“We didn’t understand what it meant,” Saleh said of the demand. “An airport isn’t an item that can be handed over to someone.”
Saleh said authorities in Baghdad did not respond to requests for clarification. She condemned the ban, accusing the central government of “just punishing their own people.”
Military, humanitarian and diplomatic flights will continue from the airport uninterrupted according to the information relayed from Baghdad, Saleh added.