Iraq vice president: Baghdad won’t tolerate creation of ‘second Israel’

September 17, 2017 By administrator

Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki

Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has denounced a planned Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq, warning that Baghdad would not tolerate the establishment of “a second Israel,” after the occupying regime became the only entity to support the so-called plebiscite.

Maliki, who was also Iraq’s prime minister from 2006 to 2014, made the remarks in a meeting with US Ambassador to Iraq, Douglas Silliman, in the capital Baghdad on Sunday, adding that the leaders of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan must “call off the referendum.”

The so-called independence plebiscite “is contrary to the constitution and does not serve the general interests of the Iraqi people, not even the particular interests of the Kurds,” Maliki said.

His comments came two days after lawmakers of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), in its capital Erbil, approved the September 25 referendum as opposition legislators boycotted the parliament’s first session in two years.

Sixty-five out of the 68 Kurdish lawmakers present in the 111-seat regional parliament held the secession vote in the face of fierce opposition from the central government in Baghdad, the United Nations and the United States.

“We will not allow the creation of a second Israel in the north of Iraq,” Maliki said at the meeting, according to a statement released by the vice president’s office, warning that such a vote would have “dangerous consequences for the security, sovereignty and unity of Iraq.” He also urged the Kurdish leaders to come to the negotiating table

Washington has already expressed its opposition to the referendum, arguing that it would weaken the Arab-Kurdish joint military operations that have managed to make Daesh Takfiri terrorist group retreat in both Iraq and neighboring Syria.

The White House has also warned that holding the vote in “disputed areas” would be “provocative and destabilizing,” urging leaders of the Kurdistan region to call off the referendum and begin serious and sustained negotiations with Baghdad.

A close ally of the United States, the Israeli regime, however, has come out in apparent support of the controversial referendum. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Tel Aviv regime “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own.”

Lawmakers of Iraq’s Kurdistan region approve independence referendum

September 16, 2017 By administrator

Iraqi Kurdish legislators of the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region have approved a plan to hold a referendum on independence from Baghdad later this month, a contentious move spearheaded by regional President Masoud Barzani that has faced bitter opposition from the central government and several other countries, including neighboring Iran, Turkey and Syria.

In open defiance of Baghdad’s strong disapproval of the referendum, 65 out of the 68 Kurdish lawmakers present in the regional parliament on Friday voted in favor of the September 25 polls as opposition legislators boycotted the parliament’s first session in two years.

The plan for the non-binding Kurdish referendum was approved in the Iraqi city of Erbil, the capital of a northern province with the same name, in the 111-seat parliament consisting of Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraq’s former president, Jalal Talabani, and the independent Goran and Jamaa Islamiya opposition parties.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi slammed the planned vote as “unconstitutional,” calling on the Kurdish leadership to come to Baghdad and conclude a dialogue. The premier’s remarks came after the Iraqi House of Representatives voted to reject the poll on the Kurdish region’s independence.

The Iraqi parliamentarians urged the prime minister to take all necessary measures to maintain the unity of Iraq and start a serious dialogue with the Kurdistan region to resolve the pending issues.

Turkey has already censured efforts to establish an independent Kurdistan as “a grave mistake.” Ankara says the potential creation of an independent Kurdish state in its backyard would further embolden Turkey’s homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants toward an even stiffer confrontation with the government.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised interview that Ankara would hold a high-level security meeting on September 22 to decide on how to respond to the plebiscite, saying the Kurdish leadership was suffering from “serious political ineptitude.”

The Turkish president said Barzani’s decision not to postpone the independence referendum later this month is “very wrong.”

“Mr. Barzani is well aware of what we think about this matter. I think his statement is very very wrong, because he is well aware of our sensitivities about the territorial integrity of Iraq,” the Turkish president stated.

In June, Iran expressed its opposition to the “unilateral” scheme for independence of the Iraqi Kurdistan, underlining the importance of maintaining the integrity and stability of Iraq and insisting that the Kurdistan region was part of the majority Arab country.

Spain: Catalonia’s lawmakers give nod to independence referendum

September 7, 2017 By administrator

Catalan lawmakers have passed a law that paves the way for a referendum on independence from the rest of Spain. The vote, which Madrid says would be illegal, could lead to a deep constitutional crisis.

Catalonia’s regional parliament on Wednesday gave the green light for legislation that would allow a referendum to take place in the northeastern Spanish region.

The vote passed comfortably, with 72 pro-independence members of the Catalan parliament backing the “referendum bill” after more than 11 hours of impassioned debate.

Eleven lawmakers abstained from voting, while 52 opposition members of parliament walked out in protest before the vote was even taken.

The law was passed despite a ruling in February by Spain’s constitutional court, declaring it would be unconstitutional. Under the current constitution, only the central government has the right to call such a referendum.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont’s cabinet was expected to immediately sign a decree for the vote to take place on October 1.

After the bill was passed, separatist lawmakers clapped sang the Catalan anthem Els Segadors, which remembers a 1640 revolt against Spain’s Habsburg monarchy.

Court challenge likely

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was understood to have immediately requested a report on the Catalan legislation from the State Council, and was expected to call an urgent cabinet meeting and challenge the regional bill through an appeal to the Constitutional Court.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Catalonia’s parliament was holding a “fake debate.” She said that the vote had breached parliamentary procedures and that it was an “act of force” characteristic of “dictatorial regimes.”

Meanwhile, public prosecutors announced they were seeking criminal charges against Generalitat speaker Carme Forcadell for allowing the vote to take place.

Forcadell responded with derision to news that she might be charged. “This is the notion democracy of the institutions of state. At parliament we will continue to guarantee that you can always talk about everything.”

No-confidence vote?

The leader of the opposition Ciudadanos (Citizens) party, Ines Arrimadas, immediately announced that she would seek support for a no-confidence vote against Puigdemont, with the aim of forcing new regional elections.

The bill went ahead without the customary vetting of a legal committee. However, Puigdemont has claimed that his government has a democratic mandate to seek a binding referendum based on the principle that a people have a right to self-determination under international law.

Catalonia’s regional government staged a symbolic independence referendum in 2014. More than 80 percent of participants voted to split from Spain, although only 2.3 million of Catalonia’s 5.4 million eligible voters took part.

On Tuesday, Spain’s Court of Auditors ruled that former Catalan president Artur Mas should repay 5.1 million euros ($6.1 million) in public funds that it cost to hold that vote.

The vote was held three weeks after Islamist attacks in Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, and a nearby seaside resort, which killed 16 people and wounded more than 120.

rc/bw (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Yazidis and Assyrians remain unconvinced by Iraqi Kurdistan referendum

August 16, 2017 By administrator

Gareth Browne

Barzani and the KDP abandoned us, the only Yazidis that support them now are the ones they are paying. We don’t want to be with them, we don’t want their referendum, a Yazidi student says.

The world is slowly becoming aware of the plight of Iraq’s minorities, and yesterday US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson toldreporters that “ISIS is clearly responsible for genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims”.

one in the discourse of US officials, reserved only for the most serious of cases. But even with the international community awaking to the plight of Iraq’s minorities – especially the Yazidis and Christians, the path of their recovery is far from clear.

Now with a referendum on Kurdish independence looming, minority groups’ qualms with both the Baghdad and Erbil governments are becoming all the more prominent, and the minorities are refusing to see their concerns go ignored.

Iraq’s Christian community has dwindled in recent years. Once home to some 1.5 million Christians, the country now boasts a population of barely 250,000, according to a recent report by the World Council of Churches.

Dozens more are leaving every week for new lives in North America and Europe, but the ones who have remained do not appear convinced by the Kurdish case for independence.

In July, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities forcefully removed elected Assyrian mayor Ayez Abed Jawahreh, only to replace her with a Kurdish figure more friendly to the ruling Kurdish Democratic Party’s (KDP) agenda. Although there were murmurs of corruption on Jawahreh’s part, no evidence was presented and many believe it was just an exercise in restricting opposition to the KDP’s agenda.

Diana Sarkisian, an Assyrian human rights activist, suggested “this removal and meddling in the political leadership in Alqosh has shown how little minorities are respected by the KRG”.

Assyrians quickly gathered in Al-Qosh to protest, and the Kurdish flag was notably absent from their demonstrations, with the Iraqi one instead proudly held up by many of those present. Assyrians further voiced their disagreement with referendum at an event involving the KRG’s representative to the United States in Washington earlier this month. Protesters rushed the stage holding aloft placards such as “KRG is not a democracy” and “Assyrians say no to referendum”.

Sarkisian added that most of the Assyrians in Iraq wanted to remain so, in an “independent province” similar to “that of the KRG”, but that obviously it was for the people to decide for themselves.

One minority that has received far greater attention from the Iraqi and Kurdish governments is the Yazidis. The victims of the world’s latest genocide have been widely courted by Barzani’s KDP party, which traditionally attempts to portray itself as something of a protector of minorities.

Indeed Haydar Shasho, the head of the YBS, or Sinjar Resistance Units, a Yazidi militia charged with defending Yazidi homelands in Northern Iraq, went as far as saying that the genocide carried out against the Yazidi people by the Islamic State group “would not have happened” if there had been an independent Kurdistan.

The Iraqi parliament’s sole Yazidi MP, Vian Dakhil, has also aligned with the KDP-led push for Kurdish independence, suggesting that an independent Kurdistan would be a “beacon of hope and stability”.

However this is a far cry from the perspective of most Yazidis, who feel that Barzani’s Kurdish Peshmerga – who fled their defensive positions in Sinjar in August 2014 as IS approached – abandoned the Yazidis in their hour of need.

Several weeks after IS’ capture of Mosul, the jihadists marched on Sinjar, and the thousands of Peshmerga charged with maintaining security withdrew without a fight. What subsequently took place has been labelled genocide by the United Nations – as many as 5,000 were executed and 7,000 women and children were kidnapped and exploited as sex slaves by IS fighters and officials.

As Hishah Bashir, a Yazidi student now living in Erbil, said: “Barzani and the KDP abandoned us, the only Yazidis that support them now are the ones they are paying. We don’t want to be with them, we don’t want their referendum.” He added: “If we stay with Baghdad, at least we can push for a federal or independent Yazidi province in Sinjar and Nineveh. The Kurds will never give us that; they want full control over everything.”

Source: eKurd.com

Iraqi Kurdistan’s risky independence referendum

August 7, 2017 By administrator

While Iraqi Kurds are expected to overwhelmingly vote their preference for an independent state on Sept. 25, it is less clear how Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani will manage opposition from just about everyone else.

The referendum does not compel Barzani to declare an independent Iraqi Kurdish state. Barzani may consider a yes vote as leverage to negotiate with Baghdad and neighboring powers from a greater position of strength.

This column wrote last month that there is “shared interest among Syria, Turkey and Iran in preventing Kurdish autonomy” in both Syria and Iraq. The Iraqi Kurdish referendum complicates Erbil’s close ties with Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opposed the referendum from the start, fearing the impact on the Kurds in both Turkey and Syria. Turkey’s top priority in Syria is to break the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The YPG is Washington’s Syrian partner of choice and also aligned with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The United States and Turkey consider the PKK a terrorist organization. While the KRG does not support the YPG, and is a rival of the PKK, both the YPG and the PKK are popular with many Iraqi Kurds.

Cengiz Candar reports that among “the inner circle of the KRG decision-making process, negative comments by the Turkish side are for the benefit of Turkey’s domestic political scene. What they have heard from their Turkish colleagues privately on the referendum issue is quite different. … Therefore, for the Kurds, there is supposedly no need to be concerned about Turkey’s reactions.”

The question is whether the KRG inner circle indeed has the inside track or instead is hearing what it wants to hear. Candar writes, “Erdogan’s statement and the words he chose have to be treated with the utmost importance, as his position overrides every institution and personality in today’s Turkey. His remarks during a July 5 interview with TV channel France 24 do not support KRG officials’ optimism on Turkey’s ultimate position.

Candar continues, “Anybody familiar with Erdogan’s speaking style should know that these phrases are quite tough — beyond a friendly warning. Tellingly, Erdogan was also belittling the KRG by saying ‘local administration’ rather than using Iraqi Kurdistan’s official name. Erdogan has consistently made it known that he doesn’t support even the autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Iraq, fearing the same thing will happen in Syria. … Turkey’s military establishment, one of Erdogan’s recent staunch domestic allies, is also known for its opposition to the autonomous Kurdish entity.”

Nahwi Saeed writes that Iran unambiguously opposes to the referendum. “In a move that coincided with preparing for the referendum,” Saeed writes, “Iran cut water flow from the Little Zab River to Kurdistan. Iranian officials have recently told a high-ranking Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) delegation, ‘If you hold a referendum, do not expect anything good from us.’ More recently, the Iranian defense minister has threatened that the separatist movements in Iraq will not be tolerated. In short, Iran is unequivocally against the Kurdish referendum and will try to prevent it from taking place.

Holding the referendum is also complicated, Saeed says, because it would take place not only in the Kurdistan Region that Barzani is president of, but also in “disputed territories such as the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Sinjar, Makhmour and Khanaqin.”

61% voted ‘No’ for independent Iraqi Kurdistan in social media poll

July 25, 2017 By administrator

SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Most of the Kurdish people have voted ‘No’ for the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan in a vote on Kurdish NRT TV social media in which 119,000 people participated and 92,000 voted.

NRT held a major vote through Facebook, which began on June 10 and ended on 10 July. The question on the referendum was – What will your vote be in the Kurdistan Region’s referendum: Yes or No?

Up to 119,000 people have participated in the referendum in the month long period and 92,083 people have voted. According to the participants’ votes, 61.74 percent have voted no and 38.26 percent have voted yes for the independence of Kurdistan.

56,855 people have voted “No” and 35,228 others have voted “Yes” out of the 92,083 people who answered the question on the referendum from NRT.

The NRT referendum is the largest vote which has been held by Kurdish media, in which nearly 100,000 people have participated in the referendum and showed their opinion regarding the Kurdistan Region’s referendum.

Many Kurds criticized Massoud Barzani, whose term as Kurdistan President ended on August 20, 2015 but refused to step down and remains unofficially in office and closed parliament, over an attempt to use the referendum on Iraqi Kurdistan region’s independence from Baghdad to stay in power, regain personal and party credibility that had been lost due to political and economic crises recently experienced by the Iraqi Kurds.

The Kurdistan Independence referendum of January 2005 that was conducted by the Kurdistan Referendum Movement alongside the Iraqi parliamentary elections and Iraqi Kurdistan elections of 2005, was an informal referendum asking the people of Iraqi Kurdistan whether they favor remaining a part of Iraq or in favor of an independent Kurdistan.

The 2005 result was an overwhelming majority of 98.8% favoring an independent Kurdistan.

The Kurdistan Region’s political parties, not including the second biggest party of Change (Gorran) Movement and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), came to an agreement on June 7 to hold a referendum on the region’s independence on September 25, 2017.

Erdogan condemns referendum on independence of Iraqi Kurdistan

June 13, 2017 By administrator

Erdogan condemns referendum on independence of Iraqi Kurdistan erdogan, condumneAnkara, 13 June 2017 (AFP) – The referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan is an “error” and a “threat” to the territorial integrity of Iraq, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

“Moving towards the independence of northern Iraq is a mistake and a threat to the territorial integrity of Iraq,” Erdogan said in a speech broadcast on television.

The presidency of Iraqi Kurdistan last week announced a referendum on independence, despite Baghdad’s opposition. But Turkey, itself a prey on its territory to a conflict with Kurdish separatists, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 1984, is firmly opposed to any constitution of a Kurdish state on its border, despite good relations with The Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.

In August, it launched a military operation in northern Syria to drive out the jihadists from the Islamic State (EI) group, but also to prevent the Syrian Kurds from linking the cantons they control in this region. Prey to a civil war.

“We have always defended the integrity of Iraq and we will continue to defend it,” Erdogan said, adding that such a referendum “is in nobody’s interest.”

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry warned Iraqi Kurdistan’s referendum plan as ‘grave mistake’

June 9, 2017 By administrator

Turkey has censured as a plan by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to hold a referendum on breaking away from the mainland.

On Friday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry warned the decision announced earlier this week to hold the independence vote on September 25 would be a “grave mistake.”

“The maintenance of Iraq’s territorial integrity and political unit is one of the fundamental principles of Turkey’s Iraq policy,” it added.

Turkey is wary of Kurds, especially those in its southeastern regions and others living in Syria and Iraq.

This has been caused by a decades-long and ongoing militancy campaign waged by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) aimed at carving out an independent state in southeastern Turkey.

Turkey has been bombing alleged PKK hideouts in the mountains north of Iraq.

It has also invaded both Syria and Iraq via ground to contain the progress of Kurdish fighters, whom it accuses of links with the PKK.

Turkey fears that the potential of creation of an independent Kurdish state in its backyard could further embolden the militants towards stiffer confrontation with Ankara.

Damascus and Baghdad have, time and again, asked Ankara to end its military presence in the Arab states, which comes without their approval.

Turks protest against referendum result in Istanbul

April 23, 2017 By administrator

Several hundred demonstrators have poured out onto the streets of Istanbul to protest the outcome of last week’s disputed referendum in which voters narrowly approved expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s executive powers.

Chanting anti-Erdogan slogans during Saturday’s march, the protesters vowed to stay on the streets until the referendum’s result is annulled.

They carried banners reading, “No to one-man rule,” “Referendum should be annulled,” and “No. We won!” A demonstrator held up a cartoon of Erdogan reading, “They don’t let me be the president.”

“There is hatred and anxiety around us. We are going in the direction opposite to one we should be going. I am trying to make myself heard as this is the only thing I can do,” said protester Aysu Kaya.

In the April 16 referendum, Erdogan’s ‘Yes’ campaign won 51.36 percent of the votes, while the ‘No’ campaign gained 48.64 percent. Turkey’s three largest cities – Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir – voted against the constitutional reforms.

Erdogan declared victory in the vote, but opponents said the referendum was deeply flawed.

On Friday, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) filed a court appeal against a decision by electoral authorities to accept unstamped ballot papers in the tightly contested vote.

Protester Yasar Sagturk said the demonstrators “have never had expectations from the judicial process.”

“They have always been partial. We will continue to be in the streets. We will be in the streets until the end,” he said.

Additionally, Sahin Akcay, another participant in Saturday’s rally, said, “We embarked on a journey and there is no return. We are resisting, and we will be the winners in the end.”

Supporters of the fresh constitutional changes argue that they will modernize the country, but opponents fear a possible authoritarian rule.

Under the new system, the office and position of prime minister would be scrapped in Turkey and the president would be granted executive powers to directly appoint top public officials, including ministers, and assign one or several vice presidents.

It further states that Turkey’s next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held simultaneously on November 3, 2019 and the head of state would have a five-year tenure, for a maximum of two terms.

The constitutional changes would mean that Erdogan could stay in power for another two terms until 2029.

TURKEY Referendum: Ankara rejects EU appeal for investigation

April 20, 2017 By administrator

Turkey rejected on Tuesday the European Union’s call for an investigation into alleged irregularities in the referendum on the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging him to respect the outcome of the vote.

“Such a speculative statement by a spokesman can not be accepted,” Turkish Foreign Minister Omer Celik told a press conference. He called on the EU to respect “democratic processes”.

The European Union earlier called on Turkey to “open a transparent inquiry” following a report by a joint observer mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council Of Europe believing that the Sunday referendum won shortly by Mr Erdogan had taken place in unfair conditions and did not meet the democratic criteria. “We call on all actors to exercise restraint and the authorities to open a transparent investigation into the alleged irregularities that have been observed by international observers,” said European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas.

The biggest Turkish opposition party, the CHP, on Tuesday presented to the High Council of Electors (YSK) a request to cancel the referendum, citing “manipulations” during the vote. The CHP and the main pro-Kurdish party, the HDP, particularly question the decision of the YSK to consider as valid the ballots not marked with the official seal of the electoral authorities.

Cezar Florin Preda, head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), who deployed observers to Turkey, said on Monday that it had “suppressed” An important safeguard “in the ballot.