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Iraqi Foreign Ministry summons ambassadors of four Western countries

December 11, 2019 at 4:39 am

Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Ahmed Al-Sahaf speaks during a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq on 27 February 2019 [Haydar Karaalp/Anadolu Agency]

The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today that it had summoned the ambassadors of France, Britain, Germany and Canada to reject a joint statement issued by the four countries. The four countries have condemned Iraq’s handling of recent.

In a statement, the ministry’s spokesperson, Ahmed Al-Sahaf, said that the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors to express the Iraqi authorities’ rejection of the contents of their joint statement. The Iraqi authorities considered as “unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Iraq, and a clear violation of the first article of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”

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Al-Sahaf said that the mission of ambassadors to Baghdad is to strengthen relations and upgrade common interests without interfering in the Iraqi internal affairs. He stressed that if there is a need to state Iraq, then coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should first be made.

He also pointed out that Senior Foreign Ministry Undersecretary, Abdul Karim Hashim, met the ambassadors mentioned above to discuss the issue of the joint statement under question, informing the foreign officials about the Iraqi authorities’ rejection of the content of the report.

It is noted that the French, British, and German embassies in Baghdad had criticised earlier, in a joint statement issued yesterday, the Iraqi force’s strategy in the handling of the demonstrations, which have been taking place in the country since last October.