Kurdistan Democratic Party to suspend activities in Baghdad over storming incidence

The Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq announced, on Monday, that it would close its headquarters and stop its political and civic activities in the capital, Baghdad, for an indefinite period, Anadolu News Agency reported.

The Party’s office in Baghdad said in a statement that the Party has made its decision following the storming of its offices in Baghdad which were then set on fire, without any investigation from local authorities.

Earlier on Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, ordered the dismissal of “officers” for negligence, against the background of storming and burning the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s office.

On Sunday evening, protesters set fire to the Party’s headquarters in Baghdad over comments made by a Kurdish writer on Twitter in which he had criticised the Shia religious authority.

Kurdish writer, Nayef Kurdistani tweeted that he supports the Sunni Muslim authority, and not “the Indian, Persian and Afghan reference, who are not gentlemen even if they wear black turbans” in reference to Shia Muslims.

Kurdistani published a second tweet in which he apologised to the head of the Shia religious authority in Iraq, Ali Al-Sistani, for the misunderstanding.

Sistani’s views are widely respected by Iraqis, especially in the centre and south of the country, where the majority of Iraqi Shia live.

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