"The fragmented and indecent governance (in Baghdad) over the past 13 years has hardly been the answer to the plight of the people of Iraq,"
Erbil (Kurdistan Region), May 6.─ A senior Kurdish politician says that the Iraqi state has repeatedly failed to provide a good model of governance despite ample opportunities over the past years, which inevitably entitles the Kurds to self-determination through referendum.
Mala Bakhtiar, a top member of the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) writes in an op-ed article that the referendum is “Kurdistan people’s undisputed right” which he hopes the Iraqi rulers would respect through further dialogue and negotiations.
“Support a genuine democracy in Iraq by implementing the constitutional article 140 regarding the so-called disputed territories and let people in Kirkuk, Khanaqin and Shingal be in charge of their destiny,” Bakhtiar writes in his op-ed for the PUK mouthpiece Kurdistani Nwe on Thursday calling on the support of the international community.
“But the fragmented and indecent governance (in Baghdad) over the past 13 years has hardly been the answer to the plight of the people of Iraq,” he continues.
The PUK has largely been hesitant to openly support the anticipated referendum in Kurdish-controlled territories in the past. But with recent acceleration of tensions in Baghdad ...
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