New Delhi: Israeli spy agency Mossad has played a key role in the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has alleged.
Speaking in eastern Turkey, Erdogan said that the fact Israeli flags were waved during events celebrating the “yes” vote clearly points at Israel’s involvement.
“This shows one thing, that this administration (the Kurdish leadership in northern Iraq) has a history with Mossad, they are hand-in-hand together,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
The Kurdish referendum observed a high turnout with 3.3 million of the 4.58 million registered voters taking part. Prior to the vote, the commission had put the electorate at 5.3 million.
Many neighboring countries fear that the vote could fuel Kurdish separatism within their own borders and lead to fresh conflict.
Speaking directly to Kurdish leaders, Erdogan asked, “Are you aware of what you are doing? Only Israel supports you. Wake up from this dream.”
Turkey fears that the referendum will make a negative impact on its own sizable Kurdish population while Iran also has a large Kurdish minority.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the only leader to endorse an independent Kurdistan. Ahead of the independence vote, Netanyahu said that Israel “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to achieve a state of their own.”
The United States has opposed the vote, along with major European states and neighboring countries Turkey and Iran. The government of Syria, where Kurdish groups have established autonomous regions, has also opposed the referendum.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, described the referendum as part of a U.S.-Israeli plot to carve up the region.
“It will open the door to partition, partition, partition,” Nasrallah said, adding that “partition means taking the region to internal wars whose end and time frame is known only to God.”
Nasrallah was speaking to his supporters on the eve of Ashura, when Shi’ites commemorate the slaying of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, at Kerbala in 680 AD.
A major player in the Syrian conflict, Hezbollah has deployed thousands of fighters in support of President Bashar al-Assad in the country. Hezbollah and the Syrian army have also joined hands to fight against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria.
“Daesh is at its end. It is a matter of time in Iraq and Syria,” Nasrallah said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.