Скачать или смотреть Iraqi Kurds to vote on independence from Baghdad

(8 Jun 2017) LEADIN
Iraqi Kurds will vote in a referendum in September on whether the northern autonomous region should secede from Iraq
Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government says independence does not mean cutting all ties and cooperation with Baghdad.
STORYLINE
After announcing a referendum on independence, the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government's Head of Foreign Relations has set out the reasons for the vote.
Falah Mustafa, says the northern Kurdish region wants independence because it has never enjoyed an equal partnership with the government in Baghdad and often suffered at the hands of successive Arab regimes.
"Kurdistan is different. As a nation we are different, as geography we are different. And Iraq is an artificial state. It was put together to keep some balances. We were promised genuine partnership but we were never treated as partners, in fact we were not treated as equal partners or equal citizens of the country," he says.
Mustafa says the referendum, scheduled for 25 September 2017, will strengthen the hand of the Irbil leadership in its forthcoming talks with Baghdad.
He insisted that all outstanding issues, including the status of territories disputed by the two governments, will be handled in a peaceful manner.
"When we conduct the referendum we will be given a mandate. The leadership of the Kurdistan region will be given a mandate directly from the people of Kurdistan to go and negotiate with Baghdad on future arrangements with Baghdad. So we will be flexible in sitting down with Baghdad for that process in order to end up in a strong and a win-win solution for both that would satisfactory and that would bring about stability and prosperity. Because Baghdad would remain an important quota for us," he says.
He adds that the Iraqi Kurdish government has repeatedly demonstrated that there is nothing to fear from the emergence of an independent Kurdish state.
"Haven't we proven to all our neighbours that we are a factor for stability, that we are a friendly nation, that we want to build bridges and we want to build good neighbourly relations based on respect, understanding and benefit. Did we do anything against the interests of these neighbouring countries? Did we interfere in their internal affairs?" he says.
Iraq's northern Kurdish region, with a population of about 5 million, already enjoys a high degree of autonomy, including its own parliament and armed forces.
The referendum will be held in the three governorates that make up the Kurdish region and in the areas that are disputed by the Kurdish and Iraqi governments but are currently under Kurdish military control.
It is not clear whether a 'yes' vote, which is expected to be the result, will lead to the declaration of independence.
The Iraqi government has so far not reacted to the announcement. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in April that he respects the Kurdish right to vote on independence, but he did not think the timing was right for the move.
Neighbouring states like Turkey, Syria and Iran that all have large and sometimes restive Kurdish populations have in the past resisted moves towards Kurdish independence.
Relations with the Iraqi government have been difficult since a revenue-sharing agreement over the country's oil resources collapsed in 2015.
IS militants routed the Iraqi security forces and took control of much of the country's north in 2014.
Since then Kurdish Peshmerga forces have retaken large chunks of IS-held territory, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, leading to more tensions with Baghdad.

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