BAGHDAD, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government announced on Friday that a ban on international flights has been imposed on the Kurdish region following the independence referendum there.
"In accordance with the cabinet decision on imposing ban on the international flights, we confirm that the block of the international flights from and to the Kurdistan region has been imposed," Saad Al-Hadithi, spokesman of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, said in a statement.
But the domestic flights to the region will continue as usual in order to preserve the interests of the citizens in the Kurdish region, because the aim is not to punish the citizens but to paralyze the unilateral and unconstitutional decisions by the Kurdish leadership, the statement said.
The ban on international flights came after the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq held an independence referendum on Monday, in defiance of strong opposition from the Iraqi central government and the international community at large.
The electoral commission of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan announced on Wednesday the final results showing 92.73 percent of voters support the independence of the Kurdish region from Iraq.
Ahead of the referendum, the Iraqi central government repeatedly threatened to take a package of countermeasures against the Kurdish region as part of its efforts to preserve territorial integrity.
