ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A senior official from the ruling Shiite ruling party in Iraq has warned that if Kurdistan holds the referendum on September 25, Kurdistan will enter a cycle of “tension” for decades to come.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie, an Iraqi MP and also the former National Security Adviser of Iraq, told Rudawi Amro on Saturday that while they call on the Kurdish government to come to the table to open negotiations with Baghdad backed by the international community, they believe that the independence vote cannot take place until the Iraqi constitution is amended by all Iraqis.
“Kurdistan after the referendum, if God forbid it takes place, it will be a spot for tension from now for tens of years to come,” Rubaie said.
His comments come as the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on the same day that they are ready to intervene militarily in the face of the Kurdish referendum.
Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said Saturday that there are some people in Baghdad who are in power who intend to harm Kurdistan. He said the vote will save Kurdistan from entering a clash with the Iraqi state.
Rubaie, who is from the State of Law Coalition of the PM Abadi’s Dawa Party, said the fact that the Iraqi parliament decided to vote against the Kurdish referendum and to sack Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim at the last minute was because they wanted to give Erbil a chance to reconsider its decision to hold the referendum. He said that the reaction from the Iraqi parliament was an example of using "soft power."
He said that the Kurdistan Region does not have the right to self-determination because Iraq is not an occupier.
“We are with the right of nations for self-determination; the occupied nations have the right to self-determination. But the beloved Kurdistan entered a political, historic and decisive contract with Arabs, between Kurds and Arabs, Sunnis and Shiites, through the Iraqi constitution 12 years ago. It says that Iraq is a republic, federal, and democratic [state],” Rubaie argued.
Asked about other examples of nations who practiced their right to self-determination through a referendum such as Scotland, Rubaie said the two examples are different.
British laws do not say that there is a “union forever” between Scotland and the United Kingdom, as opposed to the Iraqi constitution that allows only for federalism, the Iraqi official argued.
The UK parliament approved a demand from the Scottish government to hold a referendum on independence in 2014. Just over 50 percent voted to stay with the United Kingdom.
Rubaie defended some plans by Iraqi MPs to remove the Iraqi President Fuad Masum, a Kurd, for failing to voice his opposition to the Kurdish vote.
He said Masum has failed at this moment to live up to his oath that stipulates the protection of Iraq’s unity and territorial integrity.
He, like PM Abadi, said that they are ready to discuss amending the constitution if that is what the Kurds want to, but that it must be put to a vote by all of Iraq.
Kurdish President Masoud Barzani has said time and again that the decision to seek independence came after Iraq pushed Erbil to consider a different framework for its relations with Iraq after the federal government violated about one-third of the Iraqi constitution.
“We did not force the Kurds to take that step, and that step is a very dangerous one,” Rubaie said, adding that it may nullify all achievements the Kurds have made in Iraq.
PM Abadi also earlier warned the Kurdistan Region will lose all of its achievements made since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, to which Barzani said the Kurds earned what they have today not because the Iraqis wanted to be good to them, but that the Kurdish people paid for it in blood.
The Kurdish Peshmerga have expanded their territory by at least 40 percent since the war began against ISIS such in Kirkuk after the Iraqi army failed to defend the areas against the ISIS advance.
“You cannot impose issues by force,” the Iraqi MP said as he warned that there will be a “political, economic and security blockade” against Kurdistan as the result of the vote.
He said that Baghdad is ready to provide any kind of “guarantees” needed to make the Kurdish leadership change their decision.
“We are prepared to give him [Barzani] any kind of guarantees in order for him to change his view [on] the referendum,” Rubaie said. “We demand our brother Masoud Barzani to postpone holding the referendum for a while, until he finds it appropriate.”
Asked about what kind of guarantees Baghdad would offer, he said it could come from a number of regional and international entities, such as by the United Nations, by the permanent members of the Security Council, the Arab League, or the Iraqi parliament.
He said that they are ready to start solving the issues of difference between them such as Article 140 that concerns the disputed or Kurdistani areas claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad. He said though that they do not allow Kirkuk to join the Kurdistan Region without first implementing Article 140.
President Barzani ruled out any alternative to the referendum on Friday, saying that it is too late to make such demands. He said the vote would take place on its stated time despite the opposition from other countries.
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