A REFERENDUM in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq has shown strong support for independence – but the Iraqi government has ruled out talks on the subject and neighbouring Turkey has threatened sanctions.

Preliminary results from Monday’s poll indicated a turnout of 72 per cent and, according to Kurdish news agency Rudaw, an overwhelming majority – possibly more than 90 per cent – voted yes.

Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, was lit up by fireworks into the early hours yesterday as people danced in the streets and cars drove around in convoy with horns blaring.

In the ethnically mixed Kirkuk, where Arabs and Turkmen are anti-independence, authorities lifted an overnight curfew which had been imposed to maintain control.

Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi dismissed the poll: “We are not ready to discuss or have a dialogue about the results of the referendum because it is unconstitutional.”

Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had said earlier the vote was non-binding, but it provided a mandate for negotiations with Baghdad and neighbouring countries over peaceful secession from Iraq.

Turkey is vehemently opposed to an independent Kurdish state on its border, which it fears could stoke indy sentiments within its own Kurdish minority.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, said he was considering sanctions and that Iraqi Kurds could go hungry as a result.

Previously, he has threatened to cut a crucial Kurdish oil pipeline and stop lorries crossing Turkey’s border.

Erdogan also accused Barzani of “treachery” for going ahead with the vote: “This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery.

“If Barzani and the Kurdish Regional Government do not go back on this mistake as soon as possible, they will go down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war.

“It will be over when we close the oil taps, all revenues will vanish, and they will not be able to find food when our trucks stop going to northern Iraq.”

In neighbouring Iran, which has a substantial Kurdish minority, thousands of Kurds marched in the streets to show support for the poll, defying a show of strength by Tehran which flew fighter jets overhead.

Iran had banned flights to and from Kurdistan over the weekend, while Baghdad asked foreign countries to stop oil trading with the region.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, an Iranian major general and adviser to the supreme leader, called on “the four neighbouring countries to block land borders” with the Iraqi Kurdish region, said the state news agency IRNA.

Tehran supports Shi‘ite Muslim groups which have ruled or held security and government positions in Iraq since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Syria, which is in the thick of a devastating civil war and whose Kurds are pressing ahead with their own self-determination, rejected the referendum.

The European Union said it regretted that the Kurds had failed to heed its call not to stage the vote, adding that Iraqi unity remained essential in facing the threat from Daesh.

Likewise, the Kremlin signalled its opposition to an independent Kurdish breakaway in northern Iraq, saying Moscow backed the territorial integrity of countries in the region.

The US State Department said it was “deeply disappointed” by the referendum, but added that Washington’s “historic relationship” with the people of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region would not change.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “We hope for a unified Iraq to annihilate Islamic State and certainly a unified Iraq to push back on Iran.”

The Iraqi Kurds are part of the largest ethnic group left stateless when the Ottoman empire collapsed a century ago. In Iraq, where they represent up to a fifth of the population of 37 million, Kurds faced decades of repression before securing autonomy in 1991.

They say the indyref acknowledges their contribution in confronting Daesh after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army in 2014 and seized control of a third of Iraq.

Rudaw said that of the 5.2 million Kurds and non-Kurds living in the three states that comprise the region, 72 per cent had voted.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is involved in his own indy battle, tweeted yesterday: “This morning I called President @masoud_barzani to congratulate him on the #KurdistanReferendum. We wished each other great success.”