Baku, Azerbaijan, June 10
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
The decision of the northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hold an independence referendum is a unilateral decision which contradicts legal frameworks in particular the Iraqi Constitution, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said.
Iran’s position is to back territorial integrity and unity of Iraq, Ghasemi said June 10, the official website of Iranian Foreign Ministry reported.
The Kurdistan Region is part of Iraq, Ghasemi said, adding that unilateral decisions made outside national and legal framework, especially outside Iraq’s Constitution, will lead to further problems for Iraq, in particular under the current complicated situation in that country and the region.
Ghasemi further said that a unified, stable and democratic Iraq will safeguard interests of its entire people from various ethnicities and religious.
Iraq today needs peace and national consensus more than any other time, he said, adding that the differences between Baghdad and Erbil must be settled within the framework of dialogue and national understanding in line with Iraq’s Constitution.
On June 8, Masoud Barzani, head of the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq, said the KRG is ready to hold an independence referendum.
He noted that the referendum was scheduled for September 25.