Iraqi Kurds Braced for Turkish Sanctions

Iraq's Kurds are bracing themselves for potentially devastating economic sanctions against their self-rule region, after reports that Ankara had closed its airspace to and from Iraq and was planning further measures to pressure the Kurdish authorities to take action against PKK rebels in Iraq.

The sanctions, agreed on Wednesday, remain unspecified, but Turkish officials are reportedly considering restricting the flow of traffic and goods at the Habur bridge border crossing, which is an economic lifeline for Iraq's north and an important supply route for multinational forces.

The Turks are also considering cutting off vital electricity provision to the Kurdistan region, which gets about 10% of its power supply from across the border.

"When we talk of economic sanctions, we don't mean to cause difficulty to people living in Turkey and Iraq," said the Turkish foreign minister, Ali Babacan. "We are targeting the economic sources of the terrorist organization and those elements providing support to the terrorist organization," he said.

Turkey, which has 100,000 troops ranged along its border with Iraq, has threatened a military invasion unless Iraq and the US crack down on PKK fighters holed up in the remote mountains of northern Iraq, which are nominally under Iraqi Kurdish control.

Iraqi Kurdish leaders have refused to commit troops to the fight against the PKK, insisting that a peaceful solution must be found.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, upped the ante by accusing the Kurdish regional president, Massoud Barzani, of "aiding and abetting" the PKK.

The Turkish press, meanwhile, has turned Mr Barzani into a hate figure, calling him "insolent" and "traitorous".

Des Browne, the British defense minister, flew to Iraqi Kurdistan today in a show of support for Iraq's Kurds. He told reporters at Mr Barzani's hilltop headquarters overlooking Irbil that he had come "to make a contribution to collective efforts to ensure that no cross-border operation [by Turkey] takes place". "Firm and resolute action needs to be taken immediately to constrain the PKK activities," Mr Browne said, but he stressed that "military action is in no one's interests". He praised the Kurdish leader for his commitment to addressing a "very difficult and challenging situation".

Iraqi and Kurdish leaders say they have disrupted the PKK's supply lines and restricted freedom of movement. They have also proposed a multinational force in the frontier region with Turkey to beef up border posts and prevent PKK fighters crossing over. Ankara has rejected the proposals as insufficient.

Iraqi Kurds suspect that Turkey is using the PKK crisis as a pretext to squeeze their autonomous region, which is the safest in Iraq. Mr Barzani said: "It is unfortunate that in the last few days, Turkey has closed its airspace to planes not only to the Kurdistan region but as far as we know also to Baghdad. We don't know whether or when they will implement them [the sanctions], but we are following the situation closely."

Sanctions could prove counterproductive. More than 300 Turkish companies do business in Iraq's Kurdistan region, some of them working on large infrastructure and construction projects. Billions of dollars of goods and equipment cross the Habur bridge every year, providing a living for tens of thousands of Turkish truck drivers.

Mr Erdogan denied the claims of the closure of Turkish airspace, but Turkish businessmen visiting an international trade fair in the Kurdish capital Irbil were left stranded by the cancellation of flights from Istanbul.