Turkey 'to deal only with Baghdad' on oil exports

Turkey told Iraq it would deal only with the Iraqi government on crude oil exports, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday.

In a phone call with Abadi, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim "confirmed the support of his country to all decisions" taken or sought by the Iraqi government in Baghdad after the independence referendum held in Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday, Abadi's office said in a statement.

Among these measures, the statement mentioned "restricting oil export (operations) to the Iraqi government".

It didn't give more details or say how Ankara would deal with current crude exports from Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraqi Kurds announced an overwhelming "yes" for independence on Wednesday following a referendum that has incensed Baghdad and sparked regional and international concern.

Official results showed that 92.73 percent of voters backed statehood, with turnout estimated at 72.61 percent.

Iraq's neighbours are considering their future relationship with the country, and some international airlines have begun suspending flights to and from the Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, after Iraqi civil aviation authorities issued a ban on flights.