MESOP : ANOTHER TACTICAL VOICE ON INDEPENDENCE : YUSUF MOHAMMED SADIQ
December 7, 2014 – ERBIL-Hewlêr, aa.com.tr – / MESOP Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government KRG will be forced to seek independence should Baghdad not respect Kurdish rights as instituted in the Iraqi constitution, said the regional parliament speaker on Saturday.Yusuf Mohammed Sadiq told The Anadolu Agency that the regional government was working on a strategy to stay in Iraq but that a referendum would be held if the Kurdish region were to seek independence.
“If the Iraqi constitution is not implemented and the Iraqi government does not observe Kurds’ rights in the constitution, the Kurdish region will hold a referendum for independence,” he said. Sadiq said Kurdistan Regional Government had made progress on developing their own constitution, adding several party groups in the parliament were still continuing their work on the draft, expected to be finished by August 2015. Sadiq stressed the importance of relations with Turkey, saying the cooperation would be improved by mutual visits. Sadiq also touched on the Turkish government’s solution process, which was launched last year and aims to secure an end to the decades-long conflict with an outlawed pro-Kurdish group, which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people. “Settling the peace process will upgrade the relations between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government. We would like to see it will achieve its goal very soon,” he said.
Iraqi Kurdistan already acts like a sovereign state – its own constitution, its own parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own border patrol, its own national anthem, its own education system, its own International airports, even its own stamp inked into the passports of visitors. So far 25 countries have opened consulates in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Kurdistan control its own borders — including their heavily guarded southern border with Arab-majority provinces of Iraq. Most government buildings fly the Kurdish flag — not the flag of Iraq — and many members of the younger generation never learned Arabic and speak only Kurdish.