Leader of Iraq’s National Alliance Ammar al-Hakim warned of the repercussions of a planned independence referendum in the Arab country’s autonomous Kurdish region, saying the Kurds’ separation from Iraq would lead to “a tsunami of disintegration” in the region.
“The move (Kurds’ separation) will revive this ambition in other regions (of Iraq), like Basra and other southern cities and all neighboring countries and, as a result, the region would face a tsunami of disintegration,” Hakim said, according to Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen TV network.
The cleric further emphasized that separation of Kurds “has no legal basis”, adding that although all human beings have the right to self-determination, the issue with is how to restore the right.
Kurds have already voted twice to join the federal government of Iraq, once in 1917 and the other in 2005, said Hakim, who is also the head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI).
The comments came after officials in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region announced that the northern territory will hold an independence referendum on September 25.
Masoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), announced the vote last month.
The referendum on whether to secede from Iraq is planned to be held in the three governorates that make up the Kurdish region and in the areas that are disputed by the Kurdish and Iraqi governments but are currently under Kurdish military control.
(TNA)
