Iraqi PM Abadi reaffirms safety of Iraqis in Kirkuk

CAIRO – 16 October 2017: Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi stressed working in accordance with the Iraqi constitution to serve the citizens and protect the unity of the country, which was in danger of partition due to holding the Kurdish independence referendum.

In a statement issued on Monday, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Abadi said that “we tried to dissuade those in the [Kurdistan] region from holding it [referendum] and not violating the Constitution and to focus on the fight against Daesh [Islamic State], but they did not listen to our appeals. We demanded from them to cancel the results which also went unheeded.”

Abadi accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of ignoring the magnitude of the danger that Iraq will be exposed to and its people if the independence of Kurdistan takes place.

“They [KRG] preferred their personal and partisan interests to those of Iraq, with its Arab and Kurdish people and the rest of its components,” Abadi added.

Abadi assured the safety of the people in Kurdistan and in Kirkuk in particular, manifesting that “we have only acted to fulfill our constitutional duty to extend the federal authority and impose security and protect the national wealth in this city, which we want to remain a city of peaceful coexistence for all Iraqis.”

“We call upon the Peshmerga forces to perform their duty under the federal leadership as part of the Iraqi armed forces,” he said.