[Al Jazeera] Voting stations set up for the Iraqi Kurdish referendum have closed their doors and counting of ballots has begun, according to the official supervising body.Voting closed at 6pm local time (16:00 GMT) on Monday, and the final results were expected to be announced within 72 hours.
Erbil-based Rudaw TV, citing the Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission, said 78 percent of the more than five million eligible voters turned out to vote.
In Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
authorities declared a curfew an hour and a half before polls closed as jubilant Kurds started to celebrate.
Kurds in the northern Iraqi city flocked to polling stations, but there has been lingering opposition of the vote among the Arabs and Turkmen who live alongside them.
Voters were asked to tick either Yes or No on the ballot asking them just one question in Kurdish,
The referendum is opposed by the Iraqi central government in Baghdad as well as the neighbouring countries of
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Iran, besides major international powers.
Kurdish referendum ‘declaration of war on Iraq's unity’ - Maliki
[Iran Press TV] Iraq’s Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has called for a referendum on the unity of the entire Iraq, stressing that the Israeli-backed plot to partition Iraq had failed.
"All confirm the unconstitutionality of the referendum [for independence of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region], because it is clearly aimed at [undermining] the unity of Iraq. This vote would have serious repercussions for the future of Iraq in general and Kurdish region in particular," Maliki said in the capital Baghdad on Monday.
The Iraqi vice president also called on the central government in Baghdad to take legal actions against all those who support the Kurdish separation vote, stating that the policies adopted by
Massoud Barzani... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes...
, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, were meant to tear Iraq apart.
"The positions of Iraq's neighboring countries have been firm and clear concerning this illegal action," Maliki said, urging those countries "to boycott the Kurdistan region politically and economically and stop security cooperation with it."
Maliki had already denounced the Kurdish independence referendum in a meeting with US Ambassador to Iraq, Douglas Silliman, on September 17, warning that Baghdad would not tolerate the establishment of "a second Israel,"
Iraqi parliament demands troops be deployed to areas disputed with Kurds
[Iran Press TV] Iraqi politicians have demanded deployment of government troops to areas disputed with Kurds amid rising tensions between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over a controversial independence referendum.
Hakim Abbas Mousa Abbas al-Zamili, a politician from the Sadrist Movement, said on Monday that the parliament had approved several tough measures in response to the contentious Kurdish independence vote.
He added that in line with these measures, Baghdad would have to act to "protect Iraq's unity and to deploy troops in all [disputed] areas."
Zamili further stated that the measures also called for the closure of all border crossings with the Kurdish region.
The Iraqi parliament considers the Kurdish independence referendum as "unconstitutional" and has called for punitive measures against all Kurdish officials and civil servants involved in it, the Iraqi politician pointed out.
Kurdish Independence may have regional destabilizing effects: UN
[Iran Press TV] United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
Secretary-General António Guterres has voiced his worries over the "potentially destabilizing effects" of a controversial referendum on the independence of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region from Iraq’s central government.
"The Secretary-General respects the illusory sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Iraq and considers that all outstanding issues between the federal Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government should be resolved through structured dialogue and constructive compromise," said Guterres’ front man, Stéphane Dujarric, on Monday.
He added that Guterres also voiced hopes that following the referendum United Nations-mandated activities throughout Iraq, including in the Kurdistan region, will be permitted to continue unhindered.
Syria rejects controversial referendum
Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the pastor had finally been wrestled from the pulpit.
Y'got the wrong guy!he yelled just before Sergeant Malone's billy club landed...
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has rejected the independence referendum by Iraq’s Kurds as "unacceptable," stressing that Damascus only recognizes a unified Iraq.
"We reject any action that leads to the fragmentation of Iraq...This step is unacceptable and we do not recognize it," he added.
Another Syrian foreign ministerial official, Ayman Soussan, also slammed the vote noting that it was the result of the US’ regional policies.
"This is the result of American policies that seek to break apart the countries of the region and create conflicts between their parts," he said, adding that the referendum "harms Iraq and the Kurdish brothers."
"Destabilizing effect".... how would we know ?