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On Sept. 25, 92 percent of the total of 8.4 million Iraqi Kurdish population voted "yes" to independence in a referendum on whether to secede from Iraq.
That was a symbolic step for the ethnic group composed of by more than 30 million people spread across five countries. They decided to settle in lands of their own in northern Iraq, where Iraqi Kurdistan is made up of three provinces run by an autonomous regional government and protected by their own security services.
Iraqi Ambassador to Russia Haidar Mansour Hadi pointed out that "the referendum was a severe violation to the Iraqi Constitution, that represents the social contract between all Iraqi components, ratified by the Kurdish people in a way exceeded other Iraqi provinces: Erbil 99.36 percent, Dohuk 99.13 percent and Sulaimania 98.96 percent votes."
Noting that the people who are claiming to secede from Iraq are genuine participants in the Federal Government since 2003, the Iraqi official said that the Kurds cannot justify a secession. "The Kurdish people are part of Iraqi people."
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called on foreign states to stop cooperating with Iraq's autonomous and oil-rich Kurdistan on issues in the oil sector, and also demanded that all border posts with Turkey, Syria and Iran be placed under Baghdad's supervision, closing airports. Turkey also responded aggressively, threatening military action and sanctions in order to force the Kurds to "give up on this adventure that can only have a dark end.”
As the Kurdish leadership is claiming that Baghdad is punishing the Kurdish people by closing borders and airports for trying to express their rights, Haidar has observed that the Iraqi Federal Government has full rights to control the airports in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, subject all border crossings to federal authorities and close all non-official ports.
"As the Kurdish people are part of Iraqi people, the governmental procedures are basically addressed to deter the Kurdish government for fragmenting Iraq’s unity and preserve its regional position," he said.
"Oil exporting, foreign trade, investments, bank transactions and the diplomatic and consulate representations are subjected to the federal government authority," added the Iraqi diplomat to Russia.
The international community and regional neighbors have opposed the referendum, but there is only one government all over the world which has openly supported it: the State of Israel, which has been condemned by several international organizations for crimes against humanity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
An Iraqi senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that "Tel Aviv is only interested on weaken Iraq." Haidar added that "the Kurdish people are part of the Iraqi people, and the governmental procedures are basically addressed to deter the Kurdish government from fragmenting Iraq’s unity, and preserve its regional position."
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As Lebanese journalist and political commentator Osama al-Sharif wrote in the Jordan Times, “Netanyahu and his far right allies know very well that a unilateral Kurdish decision to cede from Iraq in the absence of an agreement over a number of contentious issues, least of which is the future of oil-rich Kirkuk province, would trigger a civil war that is likely to spill over."
In the mid 1960s and 70s, Mossad planned and funded a Kurdish Army to fight Iraqi troops in northern Iraq, and other Israeli enemies in the Middle East: Syria and Egypt. One of the Zionists' partners then was Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Masoud Barzani's father, currently the (illegal) President of Kurdistan, and Nechirvan Idris Barzani's grandfather, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) a nephew of Masoud Barzani, who rules the region without any legal basis since 2015. In 2013, he concluded his eight-year term in the Kurdish Presidency, extended by two years by the local Parliament but, since the mandate totally expired, Barzani has prevented the members of Parliament from setting up new elections.
As observed the website The Moon of Alabama, Barzani’s corrupted power has also been propelled by the United States oil interests in the region.
"The Kurds pumped and sold oil without the consent of Baghdad. Corruption rules in Kurdistan and the regional government had to rob local banks to find fresh money. That still wasn’t enough to pay salaries. The Barzani family mafia has robbed the region blind. To keep going, the local government needs to annex more riches and widen its business base."
In August 24, 2015, The Jerusalem Post reported that a majority of Israeli oil imported is from Kurdistan.
"Importing crude from Erbil (capital of the KRG) could be geopolitically, economically favorable for Jerusalem. Israel had imported as much as 77 percent of its oil supply from Kurdistan (KRG) in recent months, bringing in some 19 million barrels between the beginning of May and August 11," the publication wrote.
"During that period, more than a third of all northern Iraqi (KRG) exports, shipped through Turkey’s Ceyhan port, went to Israel, with transactions amounting to almost $1 billion.”
On Sept. 26, an official within Iran’s Expediency Council, Ali Akbar Velayati, said before the vote that the existence of a secessionist Kurdish state in Iraq would only benefit the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel, both of whom seek to “colonize and dominate” the Middle East.
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Asked about the Kurdish claim that the vote acknowledges their contribution in confronting Islamic State group after it overwhelmed the Iraqi Army in 2014, Haidar said that the Kurdish referendum undermines international efforts to combat terrorism, especially the battle against Daesh. "It’s considered a danger on the security of the region. Not just Kurdistan fought ISIS. All Iraqis fought hand in hand and sacrificed their lives in order to win the war against ISIS."
"Since 2003, our Kurdish brothers were an important part of the Iraqi political process we together, as Iraqis, worked closely to convince the U.S.-led forces to leave Iraq after signing a strategic agree with the United States," added the Iraqi Ambassador.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said before the vote that Kurds will not declare independence, but "will engage in serious negotiations with Baghdad." Haidar observed that from the beginning, Kurds wanted their own independent state. "I would strongly disagree with what Prime Minister of Kurdistan said."
"The Federal Government in Baghdad refuses any negotiation with the Kurdish leadership, unless they admit the referendum results are void, and the referendum itself is a violation of the Constitution," remarked the Iraqi diplomat to Moscow.
Edu Montesanti is an independent analyst, researcher and journalist whose work has been published by Truth Out, Pravda, Global Research, the Brazilian magazine Caros Amigos and numerous other publications across the globe.
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