Erbil says not using internet to pressure Baghdad as tensions grow

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Kurdistan region has assured it was not going to cut internet from Iraq as a pressure tool amid rising tensions over the region’s vote for independence.

Umed Mohammed Saleh, a spokesperson of Kurdistan’s Ministry of Transport and Communication, told London-based Asharq al-Awsat that internet companies in Kurdistan provide internet services for central and southern Iraq regions, while the rest of areas are covered by providers in the Gulf and Iran.

Saleh said the ministry was not responsible for internet service, adding that the service provided to Iraqi regions instead relies on what he described as “commercial relations between licensed companies in the region.

On Monday, the Iraqi cabinet ordered that Kurdish authorities hand over management of communication services to Baghdad as part of penal measures imposed after Kurdistan voted in a popular referendum on September 25th to gain independence from the Arab-dominated government in Baghdad.

Late September, Vahal Ali, director of communications in the office of Kurdistan Region’s President Massoud Barzani, told The New York Times “we could cut off communications” in response to Baghdad’s measures.

But Iraqi communication authorities have recently assured citizens that the internet and communication services remain secure through other channels linking from Turkey, Kuwait, the Arab Gulf and Iran.