Kurdish officials insist on holding a referendum in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to let the people determine their future and decide on independence by their own choice.
In an analytical article recently published on the International Interests, Saro Qadir of the Institute for Research and Development in the Kurdistan Region has argued that the referendum is a way to show the public’s approval for the independence; but he stressed that with or without the referendum, Kurdistan has the right for an independence.
Qadir explained that Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani is firstly attempting to bring together the Kurdish political parties and collect them in one idea which is a referendum on Kurdish independence. In such an event, Barzani would have a stronger hand in dealing with Iraq and the international community, the Kurdish scholar added.
Qadir said that more than 40 countries, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and France, support the idea of independence for the Kurdistan Region. He expects to see a Kurdish independence in the current year.
He believes that if the Kurds remain inside Iraq, they will be undermined by Iran and the on-going Shi’ite-Sunni sectarian conflicts. “If we stay in Iraq we lose what we have, we will be a small government in Iraq which has ethnic-sectarian war and we will end up as [a] slave of Iran.”
Kamal Kirkuki, a former speaker of the Kurdistan Region parliament, member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) politburo and a Peshmerga commander near Kirkuk, has explained that “Self-determination is a right that the International Law, the UN charter and covenants, and Human rights laws all agree on—it is an international legitimate legal right for the people.”
He asserts that any independence would not violate the Iraqi constitution, an issue raised by Baghdad, because the constitution states the various components of the country have taken it upon themselves to “decide to unite by choice.” They can therefore separate by choice, Kirkuki stressed out.
basnews.com
