clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Al-Maliki rejects Kurdish annexation of contested areas

July 3, 2014 at 11:47 am

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said on Wednesday that he rejects Kurdistan’s effort to capitalise on the current crisis in Iraq to extend its control over the contested northern areas of the country, Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper reported.

Al-Maliki said in televised remarks that: “No one has the right to exploit the events that have taken place in order to impose a fait accompli, as happened in some of the actions of the Kurdistan region. This must be rejected.”

He described Kurdistan’s step to control the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and areas located to the north of Diyala as “unacceptable”.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces have seized control of Kirkuk and wide areas in Diyala and Mosul in response to the Jihadist assault on the governorates in northern Iraq.

Al-Maliki stressed that the current events must not be exploited for the expansion of Kurdistan. “The weapons and the areas that forces had entered are being returned, and everything is coming back to normal,” he said.

The Peshmerga forces had seized control of the Iraqi army’s weapons and equipment – which had been left behind by the army after its withdrawal – and moved them to Arbil.

“By virtue of the constitution, you chose to be part of a democratic, united, federal Iraq… There is nothing in our constitution called a right to self-determination,” he said.

“Those who speak a lot about the constitution and abiding by the constitution must show us any reference to self-determination. We have already determined our fate and nothing else should happen – a referendum or otherwise – without a constitutional amendment.”

The president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Massud Barzani, said on Tuesday in an interview with BBC that he believes a referendum on the independence of the northern regions from Baghdad should be held within months.