Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum 2017

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A referendum on independence in Iraqi Kurdistan 2017 was held on September 25, 2017, despite the ban by the Supreme Court in northern Iraq , both in the autonomous region of Kurdistan and in other claimed and de facto largely controlled, but officially by the Iraqi central government subordinate provinces. The referendum was therefore not legally binding and was also officially declared unconstitutional. A referendum was held in 2005, but it was informal. According to the original independence timetable, the referendum was supposed to take place in 2014, but had to be postponed due to the conflict with the terrorist organization Islamic State .

The question put to the electorate, to be answered with “yes” or “no”, was: “Would you like the Kurdistan region and Kurdish areas that are outside the regional administration to become an independent state?”. The ballot paper contained the question and answer options in Kurdish , Arabic , Turkmen and Syrian .

Demonstration for the independence of Kurdistan in the Franso Hariri Stadium

course

The Kurdish regional president Masud Barzani of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK) brokered the agreement on the implementation of the referendum on June 7, 2017 with the second major state party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Jalal Talabani ; Smaller parties such as the Islamic Union of Kurdistan , the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan , the Kurdish Communist Party , the Kurdistan Workers 'Party, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the Kurdistan Reform and Development Party, the Turkmen List of Erbils , the Turkmen Development Party also joined this , the Armenian List, the Assyrian - Chaldean People's Council and the Socialist Democratic Party of Kurdistan.

The opposition "Movement for Change" Gorran , the Islamic Community in Kurdistan and the Assyrian Democratic Movement rejected the referendum. The Iraqi Turkmen Front of Sadettin Ergec supports the referendum only if their conditions are met. The Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi , also expressed understanding for the planned referendum in June 2017, but refused to vote himself. Parliamentarians Iyad Allawi from the Iraqi National Movement and Arshad Salihi from the Turkmen Front also rejected the referendum.

On September 15, 2017, the Parliament of the Autonomous Region decided to hold the independence referendum on September 25, 2017.

Although the Iraqi Supreme Court banned the referendum on September 18, 2017, voting for Kurds in the diaspora began five days later.

The Iraqi Supreme Court officially declared the referendum unconstitutional on November 20, 2017. In the declaration published for this purpose, it was also announced that all of the resulting “consequences and results” were null and void.

Disputed areas

Areas on the borders of the autonomous region inhabited by Kurds but not assigned to the Kurdish autonomous region were ultimately also included in the vote. Before that, there had been heated discussions in this regard in the Kurdish parliament, as these areas are officially subordinate to the central government in Baghdad. The main city of the disputed areas is the oil-rich Kirkuk .

Result

In the independence referendum on September 25, 2017, according to the electoral commission, 92% of the residents of the Iraqi part of Kurdistan voted for a declaration of independence. The turnout is said to have been over 70%. However, there are many reports of irregularities - voters are said to have voted multiple times or without proper registration. Turkmen and Arabs had called for a boycott of the vote.

Worldwide reactions

The first reaction from the Iraqi parliament was the call to the president to send troops to the disputed areas. The Iraqi Communist Party supported the referendum as it was a "fundamental right of the Kurdistan region".

Saeb Erekat , the negotiator for the independence of Israel entering Palestine Liberation Organization , rejected the independence referendum in Kurdistan because "the independence of the Kurds a poisoned sword against the Arabs" was. Former President of Catalonia and chairman of the Catalan European Democratic Party , Artur Mas , supported the vote, as did Visar Ymeri , chairman of the largest Kosovar opposition party Vetëvendosje . Stéphane Bergeron from the Parti Québécois in the Canadian province of Quebec also supported the referendum. The Foreign Ministry of the Artsakh Republic in Nagorno-Karabakh welcomed the result of the referendum.

The Turkish government opposed the referendum, citing concerns about the security situation in the area. It threatened to close the important oil pipelines on Turkish land. Also of Iran had expressed prior to the vote. The US announced that the referendums could lead to further destabilization and wanted at least a postponement. The European Union , the Secretary General Guterres and the Security Council of the United Nations rejected the vote. Israel, on the other hand, supported them.

In July 2017, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized in an interview with the Kurdish television broadcaster Rudaw that Moscow was sympathetic to the Kurdish people's striving for independence. But after the referendum, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia supported the territorial integrity of Iraq. The leadership of the autonomous Kurdish region and the Iraqi government were called on to seek dialogue and to work on a mutually justifiable solution to coexistence.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Longing for one's own state. In: Spiegel Online . September 21, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  2. ^ Kurdistan Region to hold independence referendum on Sept. 25. In: Rudaw . Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  3. ↑ A public statement from the Change Movement (Gorran) on Kurdistan Referendum , statement on Gorran's website, September 24, 2017, accessed September 26, 2017
  4. ↑ Partiya Tirkmenelî: Mafê tirkmenan garantî be em nabine dijberê serxwebûnê. In: Rudaw. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Iraq's head of government shows understanding for the referendum. In: n-tv.de. n-tv news television, accessed September 6, 2017 .
  6. ↑ "We refuse to be their servants". In: Zeit Online . September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Iraq stops Kurdish referendum. In: Spiegel Online . September 18, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  8. ↑ First vote cast in Kurdistan independence referendum . In: Rudaw . ( rudaw.net [accessed September 23, 2017]).
  9. ↑ Iraq's highest court declares the Kurdish referendum unconstitutional . In: The press . ( diepresse.com [accessed November 20, 2017]).
  10. ↑ a b c Report on diepresse.com , accessed on September 27, 2017
  11. ↑ Kurdish President Barzani Yes camp declared the winner. September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Rachel Avraham: PLO opposes Kurdish self-determination. Retrieved September 27, 2017 .
  13. ^ Nobody has the right to deny the Kurds independence: Leader of Kosovo Party. August 14, 2014, accessed August 14, 2017 .
  14. ^ Comment by the Information and Public Relations Department of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, accessed September 28, 2017 .
  15. ↑ "Kurdish State" heats up people . In: news.ORF.at . September 14, 2017 ( orf.at [accessed September 23, 2017]).
  16. ↑ UN Secretary General rejects an independent Kurdish state. In: Zeit Online . September 18, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  17. ↑ UN Security Council speaks out against referendum. In: Zeit Online . September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  18. ↑ Lavrov on the Kurdish question: "We are well-disposed towards them and support a referendum". RT , accessed October 12, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Sputnik: Moscow reacts to the Kurdish referendum: Solve disputes through dialogue. Sputnik News , accessed October 12, 2017 .