A set of announced measures by the Iraqi government which include an attempt to strip the Kurdistan Region from controlling its border gates such as the airports amounts to “collective punishment” and is a reminder of the practices of the infamous former Iraqi regime, said Kurdish Premier Nechirvan Barzani on Monday after he cast his vote in the independence referendum, despite the opposition of the Iraqi government and other countries. The Iraqi government had demanded that Kurdistan hand over control of all its international border posts to federal authorities, including the airports, and told the international community to deal exclusively with the government in Baghdad, particularly in relation to oil. Iraq announced the measures following a meeting of its National Security Council on Sunday. “This is the collective punishment of the people of Kurdistan. What Abadi declared is the collective punishment of all the people of Kurdistan”, PM Barzani said.
