Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country is considering all options ranging from military intervention to economic sanctions against Iraq’s Kurdish region.
Speaking in Ankara on Tuesday, Erdogan said, however, that he hopes the Iraqi Kurdish leadership will abandon aims of creating a separate state and not force Turkey into enforcing sanctions.
He added that the landlocked Iraqi Kurdish region would not be able to survive without Turkey’s support, the Washington Post reported.
“The moment we shut the valve it’s finished for them,” Erdogan said in reference to a pipeline into Turkey allowing the region to export its oil.
The Turkish leader said no country other than Israel supports the Iraqi Kurdish referendum on independence, which he described as “invalid” and “fraudulent” and said attempts by Kurds to form an independent state are doomed to fail.
