Flight ban on Iraqi Kurds starts over independence vote

An Iraqi ban on international flights into and out of Iraqi Kurdistan took effect today in retaliation for an independence referendum that has angered Baghdad.
The central government ordered the indefinite halt to all foreign flights to and from the autonomous region in northern Iraq from 6:00 pm local time, after Iraqi Kurds this week overwhelmingly voted for independence.
"The halt on international flights is now officially into effect," Mawloud Bawa Murad, the Kurdish regional government's transport minister, told AFP at Arbil airport, where he was visiting staff.
The director of Arbil airport, Talar Faiq Salih, earlier said humanitarian, military and diplomatic flights have been excluded from the ban.

The Kurds have condemned the flight suspension as "collective punishment".
But Iraq's prime minister had said it was rather a legal measure that would be reversed if the transport authority was transferred to Baghdad in line with the Iraqi constitution.

Earlier today, foreigners scrambled to leave Iraqi Kurdistan from its two airports at Arbil and Sulaimaniyah before the flight ban took effect.
Iraqi Kurdistan is home to a large international community, most of whom enter on a visa issued by the regional authorities that is not recognised elsewhere in Iraq.
Tensions have escalated between Arbil and Baghdad since Iraqi Kurds on Monday voted for the independence of their oil-rich region in a non-binding referendum.