“We have a strong interest in a united and sovereign Iraq, we have a strong interest in a stable Iraq, but we are definitely not going to interfere [in the] internal affairs of this country. In the sense, it’s up to the Iraqis, to build and to form a new government. We have interests that this process is going accordingly in accordance with the Iraqi constitution,” said the German ambassador to Iraq Martin Jaeger in an interview with Rudaw’s Bestoon Khalid on the sidelines of the Middle East Research Institute (MERI) forum in Erbil.
“We think it’s the responsibility of our Iraqi partners, of Iraqi political groups, to form a government. It’s not our job, and this shouldn’t be on the agenda of other external partners neither,” said the top diplomat. “This is Iraqi business we try to make sure that the voices of civil society and others are heard, but it’s not up to me to decide who is going to be the next Iraqi prime minister, that would be definitely wrong and that’s definitely not the position of the German government.”
Jaeger added that the election process was “well-managed.”
Germany donated millions to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) for assistance in Iraq’s elections.
