In northern Iraq, residents have voted overwhelmingly to form an independent Kurdish state. Results of the nonbinding referendum released Wednesday showed the measure passed by nearly 93 percent, with 3.3 million people voting. The independence bid is fiercely opposed by Turkey and Iran, which have spent decades suppressing Kurdish nationalism, and by Iraq’s central government. In Baghdad, the speaker of Iraq’s parliament asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send troops to Iraq’s Kurdish region.

Salim al-Jabouri: “The commander-in-chief of the armed forces should abide by adopting all legal and constitutional measures to maintain and protect Iraq’s unity and its people by issuing his orders to the security troops to redeploy in all disputed areas, including Kirkuk, as it was before June 10, 2014.”

Iraq’s government has also threatened to seize oil fields in Kurdish areas and is planning to end international flights to and from the region.