Initial results are expected in the Kurdish independence referendum with a strong “yes” vote seen as likely.
But since polls closed on Monday evening the region’s neighbours have repeated warnings that they won’t accept the vote as legitimate.
Kurdish leaders have hailed it as historic, but Turkey’s President Erdogan has called it a threat to national security.
As newspapers in Ankara hinted at military intervention, the president said all options were on the table and Turkey wouldn’t hesitate to use the means at its disposal.
Erdogan has repeatedly threatened economic sanctions, giving few details.
The Iraqi government has said it won’t hold talks with the Kurdistan Regional Government over results off the referendum it calls “unconstitutional”.
But in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, residents have welcomed the referendum in the neighbouring territory.
In Diyarbakir there’ve been no visible celebrations after the vote; local media have called for the border with Iraq to remain open.
“As a Kurd living in the other part of Kurdistan, that referendum made me so happy. Now wherever we go in the world we know that we have a state. We want the Kurdish government in Iraq to declare independence very soon,” said one resident, Dilges Osman.
Away from the calm in the streets, at least one witness reported seeing Iraqi and Turkish troops holding military exercises in southeastern Turkey.
