Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, has called on Iraq and neighbouring countries to end their threats and unhelpful rhetoric regarding the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum, and to instead open meaningful dialogue on the future of the region.<\/p>\n
The referendum saw a turnout of 72.61% and 92.73% of the 3,305,925 people who cast ballots voted “Yes” to independence.<\/p>\n
Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Iraqi Kurdistan have the right to self-determination and the right to democratically decide their own future. According to accounts this referendum was transparent, democratic and overwhelmingly in favour of independence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe referendum was not binding and doesn\u2019t immediately trigger a move to independence, but it clearly reflected the democratic will of the people there and it should lead to future discussions with Baghdad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely concerned that the Iraqi Government and other neighbouring countries, which have large Kurdish populations, have reacted with hostile rhetoric and the threats of military action. The military should not be used to attack people\u2019s democratic desire and wish for self-determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Iraqi Government have announced that all international flights to and from Erbil are to be suspended from Friday and there are threats of blockades by Iraq and neighbouring countries. This not only damages the economy and people\u2019s lives in Iraqi Kurdistan, but also restricts the important fight against Da\u2019esh.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a time for cool heads and for real and meaningful negotiations between the Governments in Erbil and Baghdad on the future of Kurdistan.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, has called on Iraq and neighbouring countries to end their threats and unhelpful rhetoric regarding the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum, and to instead open meaningful dialogue on the future of the region. The referendum saw a turnout of 72.61% and 92.73% of the 3,305,925 people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iraq","category-kurds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3260,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions\/3260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}