All foreign flights to Iraqi-Kurdish capital to stop Friday

All international flights to the Iraqi-Kurdish capital Erbil will be suspended from Friday following orders from Baghdad after the Kurdish independence referendum.

Iraqi Kurds announced an overwhelming "yes" for independence on Wednesday following a referendum that has incensed Baghdad.

"All international flights without exception to and from Erbil will stop from 6:00 pm on Friday following a decision by the Iraqi cabinet and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi," Erbil airport director Talar Faiq Salih told AFP on Thursday.

The decision by Abadi came as retaliation for the independence vote on Monday in defiance of Baghdad, which delivered a resounding 92.73 "yes" vote in support of statehood.

Regional carriers, including Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir and Lebanon's Middle East Airlines had already announced that they would be suspending their flights on Baghdad's request.

UAE-based Air Arabia and low-cost carrier FlyDubai said they would also suspend flights, while Doha-based Qatar Airways announced that it would comply with the civil aviation authority's ruling.

Foreigners leaving Erbil

A large number of foreigners working in Erbil were leaving the city on Thursday for fear of being stranded with a Kurdish-issued visa not recognised by Baghdad.

"We have consulates, international staff, international companies, so it's going to affect everyone. It's not a right decision," Salih said. 

"We have a big international community here, so this is not only against Kurdish people". 

The decision by Baghdad will severely hamper the campaign against the Islamic State group as well as the delivery of aid to those displaced by the extremists, she added.

"We also have a big number of refugees using this airport and we used to be a bridge between Syria and the UN to send humanitarian aid to those places.

"And we are hosting (US-led) coalition forces here, so this airport is meant to be for everything."

Kurdish officials have rejected Baghdad's ultimatum to surrender control of the two international airports in Kurdistan by Friday, saying their closure is unjustified.

Salih said she had asked the Iraqi transport minister what he meant by "handing over the airports".

"He said that he meant that all staff of security, immigration, customs should be replaced by people from Baghdad. I said: 'Is this reasonable, or even applicable?'"

Iraq's parliament asked al-Abadi to send troops to the Kurdish-held region of Kirkuk and take control of its oilfields following the referendum results, while the Iraqi PM called for the vote to be "annulled".

Left without a state of their own when the borders of the Middle East were redrawn after World War I, the Kurds see themselves as the world's largest stateless people.

The non-Arab ethnic group of between 25 and 35 million is spread across Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.