Iraqi Parliament Archives

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi parliament has asked the Federal Court in a letter to take legal measures against Kurdish MPs who voted for independence from Iraq in last week’s referendum. the Erbil-based Rudaw TV said on Tuesday,

The issue was raised by Salim al-Jabouri, speaker of the parliament, together with the Shiite National Alliance, the largest faction in the parliament.

The letter calls for stripping those Kurdish MPs involved in vote of immunity and going as far as putting them on trial.

According to the letter, their membership in the parliament will be suspended, too.

Jabouri said in a press conference that the parliament’s decisions against those involved in vote was not a ‘collective punishment.”

He said the parliament would commit to the Federal Court’s rulings against the Kurdish MPs.

Rudaw’s Akam Hashim, citing Shiite MPs, the Kurdish parliamentarian were denied entry into the parliament by them on Tuesday on the same ground.

Hashim added that barring the Kurdish MPs came when the State of Law faction collected and presented a number of signature to the speaker of parliament to prevent the Kurdish MPs from entering the parliament hall.

Rudaw’s reporter from the scene said that the Kurdish MPs were also told to return to Kurdistan.

A Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MP said the parliamentarians had returned to Baghdad to advocate for the rights of the Kurdish people.

And Masoud Haideri, an MP from the Change Movement or Gorran denied they were barred from entering the parliament hall, saying “no one could stop us from entering the parliament as we constitute one of the main components in Iraq: the Kurdish nation.”

MPs from all Kurdish parties, excluding the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), returned to Baghdad to attend the new parliamentary sessions.

At least 175 MPs have attended today’s session.

The Iraqi parliament recently issued a set of punitive measures against the Kurdistan Region in response to the referendum, including a flight ban.

The Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee demanded the government to take all measures necessary to end the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq, according to committee member Iskander Watut.

BAGHDAD (Sputnik) — The Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee has demanded the government to take steps to secure the withdrawal of Turkish forces from the country’s north, committee member Iskander Watut told Sputnik on Tuesday.

“Today, we held a committee meeting and demanded the government to take all measures necessary to end the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq,” Watut said.

Turkey has been accused by the Iraqi authorities of violating their country’s sovereignty after it deployed its troops to northern Iraq’s Nineveh province on December 4.

Turkey claimed that its forces were aiding Iraq’s army in its fight against the Islamic State (ISIL, or Daesh in Arabic), outlawed in Russia. Iraq rejected the claims, stating that Turkish forces had never been invited, calling Turkish military presence a “hostile move.”

On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi gave Turkey 48 hours to withdraw its troops, saying that Iraq could then resort to any measures, which include raising the issue in the UN Security Council. The Security Council is expected to hold a closed-door meeting on the matter on Tuesday.