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Iraq to Restore Pipeline to Turkey, Bypassing Kurdish Region

by Associated Press

   BAGHDAD --

   Iraq's Oil Ministry has ordered the restoration of an oil pipeline from
   the city of Kirkuk to Turkey that would bypass the country's northern
   Kurdish region in the wake of the area's pro-independence referendum.

   Tuesday's development is the second measure that Baghdad has taken over
   the past two days to isolate the Iraqi Kurdish region.
   The pipeline was taken out of service after Islamic State militants
   swept across much of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014. A
   statement from the Iraqi Oil Ministry says it wants to return the
   pipeline to service as soon as possible.
   On Monday, Iraq's central government ordered the Kurdish-based cellular
   network operators to relocate their headquarters Baghdad.
   Iraq's Kurdish region has been exporting some of its oil directly to
   Turkey.