Iranian Kurdish MPs Condemn Iraqi Kurdistan’s Referendum

Kurdish lawmakers at the Iranian parliament, in a statement, condemned the Monday referendum on the independence of the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Parts of the Farsi statement published by ICANA are as follows:

Abidance by all countries to their territorial integrity is one of the principal and generally-accepted international regulations, and it is natural that no country will allow its territorial integrity to be violated, and its territory to be seized by others or renamed.

A referendum, as a democratic tool, will be meaningful only when held among all citizens of a country, and part of a country cannot hold a plebiscite locally.

In Iraq, recently a movement backed by Israel is seeking to hold an ethnic plebiscite on the independence of part of Iraq. The Iraqi parliament has rejected that vote, and the issue has been referred to judicial officials, and the parliament, as the highest decision-making body in the country, has condemned the referendum. However, Israel is trying to cash in on the sentiments of the Kurdish people in Iraq in a bid to gain a foothold in that region and pursue its evil objectives of sowing discord, downsizing countries and disrupt stability and security in the region.

The referendum jeopardizes the interests of Iraqi Kurds as well as the stability of the countries in the region. So, the stance of us, the Kurdish legislators at the Iranian parliament, is exactly the same as the one adopted by the Iranian government (opposition to the referendum).

An ethnic, religious and regional referendum runs counter to international regulations as well as the interests of Iraqi people, especially Kurds. It is against regional stability and security. It is an illegal and illogical move, and it is condemned.

We expect relevant international institutions and Iraqi authorities as well as regional countries not to allow the move to serve the interests of Israel and trigger instability and insecurity in the region.

The Kurdish elites are also expected to prudently raise Kurdish people’s awareness of this wicked scheme and not to allow Iraqi Kurds’ interests to be compromised by those of enemies.