Iraqi federal court annuls Kurdish independence referendum

Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-20 18:04:50|Editor: liuxin
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BAGHDAD, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi federal court on Monday invalidated the independence referendum of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan and the disputed areas, a court spokesman said.

"The Supreme Federal Court issued a verdict ruling that the September 25 referendum, in Kurdistan region and the disputed areas outside the region, was unconstitutional," Ayas al-Samouk, head of the court's media office, said in a brief statement.

The court also nullified all the effects and the consequences of the referendum, Samouk added.

Earlier, Baghdad rejected an offer from Iraqi Kurdish leaders to freeze the outcome of the referendum and to launch dialogue to resolve the problems between Baghdad and Erbil, instead Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi insisted on demanding the annulment of the independence vote before any dialogue between the two sides.

On November 6, the Iraqi Supreme Court issued a verdict clarifying the articles of the Iraqi constitution that "have underlined the unity of Iraq" and that "no text in the constitution allows the secession of any of its (Iraq's) components."

The verdict came as a response to a request by the Baghdad government to end the "misinterpretation" of the articles of the Iraqi constitution.

According to the first article of the Iraqi constitution, "the republic of Iraq is a single federal, independent and fully sovereign state, in which the system of government is republican, representative (parliamentary) and democratic, and this constitution is a guarantor of the unity of Iraq."

After eight days, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement that it would "respect the interpretation of the Supreme Court for Article 1 of the constitution."

"At the same time, we affirm our belief that this should be the basis for initiating a comprehensive national dialogue to resolve disputes by applying all constitutional articles," the KRG statement said.

However, the KRG statement said "we believe that this (federal court) ruling must become a basis for starting a comprehensive dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad to resolve all disputes through implementation of all constitutional articles in a way that guarantees all rights, authorities and status mentioned in the constitution, since this is the only way to secure the unity of Iraq."

Tensions have been running high between Baghdad and the region of Kurdistan after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas on Sept. 25.

The independence of Kurdistan is opposed not only by the Iraqi central government, but also by other countries as it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and undermine the fight against IS militants.

Iraq's neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Iran and Syria, fear that the Iraqi Kurds' pursuit of independence threatens their territorial integrity, as large Kurdish populations live in those countries.

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