Amid Fears of New Bloodshed:

Iraqi PM Orders Suspension of Kurdish Vote

Date: 18 September 2017 - 21:21

News ID: ۴۴۳۴۳

BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday formally demanded that the Kurdistan region suspend its plan to hold a referendum on secession after the country's supreme court ordered its suspension.
The Iraqi supreme court approved Abadi's demand to consider "the breakaway of any region or province from Iraq as unconstitutional," his office said.
"Holding (the referendum) will lead to dangerous outcomes, resulting in the division of Iraq and threatening civil peace."
A spokesman for the supreme court said it had issued the order to suspend "until it examines the complaints it has received over this plebiscite being unconstitutional."
The court took the decision after it "reviewed requests to stop the referendum."
A source in parliament said at least three politicians had filed complaints against the poll.
Neighbors Turkey and Iran, as well as the United States and United Nations, have pleaded for the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq to settle its differences with Baghdad through negotiations rather than secession. Israel has been the only regime to back the vote.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani has said a "yes" vote would not trigger an immediate declaration of independence but rather kick-start "serious discussions" with Baghdad.
He has already rejected a U.S. alternative to the referendum, which asked for a two-year wait and talks with Baghdad.
There was no immediate reaction to Abadi's demand, but Barzani last month claimed that constitutional failures by Baghdad meant it could not use the document against the Kurds.
Britain's defense secretary, Michael Fallon, said on Monday he would try to persuade Barzani at a meeting to call off the controversial vote.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, echoed widespread international concern about the referendum.
"There are important clauses on autonomy in the Iraqi constitution," Le Drian said.
"They should be respected, accepted and protected in dialogue between Baghdad and Kurdistan," he said. "We think any other initiative would be untimely."
On Sunday, the UN chief also urged Iraq’s Kurdish leaders to scrap the upcoming secession vote, saying it would undermine the ongoing battle in the Arab country against Daesh terrorists.
"Any unilateral decision to hold a referendum at this time would detract from the need to defeat ISIL (Daesh)," United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
It would also harm reconstruction efforts and the return of refugees after years of war with Takfiri terrorists, he added.
Guterres said any dispute between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government had to be resolved through dialog and "constructive compromise."
The region is adamant to hold the referendum on September 25 despite regional and international opposition. Critics say partitioning Iraq could be the last thing the country, scarred by years of violence, needs.
Abadi told the Associated Press in an interview earlier that Iraq was prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish region’s planned referendum resulted in violence. If the Iraqi population is "threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily,” he said Saturday.
"If you challenge the constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation,” Abadi said.
The leaders of Iraq’s Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path for independence. However, Abadi said such negotiations would likely be complicated by the referendum vote.
"It will make it harder and more difficult,” he said, but added, "I will never close the door to negotiations. Negotiations are always possible.”
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Abadi this week to discuss concerns about the referendum.
With the largest Kurdish population in the region, Turkey fears that a "yes” vote would fuel separatism in its southeast, where militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have waged an insurgency for three decades. Tensions between Arbil and Baghdad have flared in the lead-up to the Sept. 25 vote.
Earlier this week Iraq’s Parliament rejected the referendum in a vote boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers.