Iraq on Monday authorised foreigners stranded in Iraqi Kurdistan after an international flight ban to leave the country via Baghdad despite not having a federal visa.

Foreigners who had entered the northern autonomous region on regional visas not recognised by Baghdad could previously not travel to other parts of Iraq.

"Any person can leave the country via Baghdad without paying a fine or for an exit visa," Interior Minister Qassem al-Araji told journalists.

Baghdad ordered the suspension of international flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan from Friday in retaliation for the Kurds voting for independence earlier last week.

A top ministry official said he would facilitate journalist visas, which usually take at least a month to process.

Iraqi Kurds gave a resounding 92.7-percent "yes" vote for independence in last Monday's non-binding referendum, which has also sent regional tensions soaring.

Foreigners quit Iraqi Kurdistan ahead of flight ban
Arbil, Iraq (AFP) Sept 29, 2017 - Foreigners scrambled to leave Iraqi Kurdistan Friday before the start of a flight ban imposed by Baghdad in retaliation for an independence referendum that has sent regional tensions soaring.

Iraq's central government has ordered a halt to all international flights to and from the autonomous region from 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) Friday after Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence.

Washington has said it would be willing to facilitate talks between the Iraqi Kurdish authorities and Baghdad to calm escalating tensions over the 92-percent "yes" vote, as a top Shiite cleric called for the crisis to be solved in an Iraqi court.

Neighbouring Turkey and Iran also strongly opposed the vote, fearing it would inflame the separatist aspirations of their own sizeable Kurdish population.

Ankara has threatened a series of measures including blocking lifeline oil exports from the region via Turkey.

The Kurds have condemned the flight suspension as "collective punishment".

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the ban was not "punishment" but a legal measure that would be reversed if the transport authority was transferred to Baghdad in line with the Iraqi constitution.

On Friday, Iraqi Kurdistan's transport ministry sent a letter to Baghdad asking to "open negotiations" on flights but was still awaiting a reply, a ministry spokesman said.

The ban has seen people, many of them foreigners, flock to the airport in the regional capital Arbil to avoid being stranded.

- Kurds rush back -

Iraqi Kurdistan is home to a large international community, most of whom enter on a visa issued by the regional authorities that is not recognised by the central government, so they cannot travel to elsewhere in Iraq.

On Friday, around 100 passengers waited eagerly for their planes in Arbil, where the last flight out was to Vienna at 4 pm.

"We were supposed to go back to Brazil next Saturday but we rescheduled our flight because of the border closing," said Isidoro Junior, a 32-year-old volunteer for an NGO providing medical assistance to Iraqis displaced by the war against the Islamic State group.

"We are a group of 16 people, so it was quite difficult to find enough seats. One of us came here at 2 am to make sure... we would be able to fly out," he said.

At the Turkish Airlines counter, before the last flight left, a one-way ticket to Istanbul cost $743. But it sold for $1,500 online, said one passenger who had paid twice in error, leaving a �3,000 dent in his credit card.

The director of Arbil airport, Talar Faiq Salih said humanitarian, military and diplomatic flights have been excluded from the ban.

Earlier, the UN humanitarian office OCHA said it was working to ensure aid could continue to reach tens of thousands of needy Iraqis.

In the region's second largest city Sulaimaniyah, foreigners and others needing to leave sped to the airport, while Kurds who were abroad for business or tourism rushed back from abroad.

"There have been masses of people for two days," said airport spokesman Dana Mohammad Said.

"After 6 pm there will be no more international flights, just internal flights," he said.

The civil aviation authority in Baghdad has said that a decision on internal flights will be made later.

- 'Help facilitate' -

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest Shiite religious authority, called for all sides "to abide by the Iraqi constitution and to appeal to High Federal Court to solve the Kurdistan crisis".

"The latest political developments should not have a negative impact on the strong relationship between sons of the homeland, Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds and others," his representative said.

On the international front, the United States said it would be prepared to "help facilitate a conversation" between Arbil and Baghdad.

"We would like to see some calm on all sides," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, noting that the US had opposed the referendum "because we thought it would be destabilising".

On Thursday, the spokesman for the international coalition fighting IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria said the referendum had taken focus away from the war against the jihadists.

But he said there was "absolutely no effect on current military operations out of Arbil using the airport".

Iraqi forces on Friday launched an assault on the northern town of Hawija, one of the last IS bastions in the country along with a stretch of the Euphrates Valley near the border with Syria.

Kurdish forces have been key allies in US-backed offensives against IS in both Syria and Iraq.

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Turkey wants summit with Iran and Iraq; Kurds reject 'collective punishment'
Ankara (AFP) Sept 28, 2017
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Thursday he wants to hold a summit with Iranian and Iraqi leaders to coordinate how to respond to the controversial Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum. "We are planning to come together in the near future to coordinate the steps to be taken for the next period with regard to these issues," Yildirim told reporters in the central Turkish provin ... read more

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