Iraq’s Maliki Warns Against «Second ‘Israel’» in Kurdistan

Local Editor

Iraq's vice president warned Sunday that Baghdad would not tolerate the creation of "a second ‘Israel'," after the entity became the sole supporter of a planned Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq.

The leaders of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan must "call off the [September 25] referendum that is contrary to the constitution and does not serve the general interests of the Iraqi people, not even the particular interests of the Kurds," said Vice President Nouri al-Maliki.

"We will not allow the creation of a second ‘Israel' in the north of Iraq," Maliki said at a meeting with US Ambassador Douglas Silliman, in a statement released by the vice president's office.

A country set up on a religious or ethnic base, like the Jewish state established in 1948, would not be acceptable, Maliki said.

He warned that an independence vote would have "dangerous consequences for the security, sovereignty and unity of Iraq," and called for dialogue between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government in the northern city of Arbil.

As opposed to Muslim countries in the region as well as the United States and Western allies, the "Israeli" entity has come out in apparent support of the referendum.

On Tuesday, "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the Kurds' aspirations for a state of their own, without specifically referring to the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

"While ‘Israel' rejects terror in any form, it supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own," a statement from his office said.

An "Israeli" flag was flown alongside Kurdish flags at a rally in Arbil on Friday in support of the referendum. But the "Israeli" Embassy in Ankara was evacuated as supporters of an ultra-nationalist party demonstrated outside.

Utku Reyhan, secretary-general of the Homeland Party, said in a press statement that a unilateral independence referendum was a "declaration of war by US imperialism and "Israeli" Zionism against countries in the region."

Attempts to establish a Kurdish state, "which our party has been calling ‘Second "Israel"' for 30 years," threatened the territorial integrity of Turkey and Iraq, he charged.

Bearing banners with the slogan "We won't allow a Second ‘Israel'," the Homeland Party took its protest to the Incirlik Air Base in Adana, southern Turkey, on Saturday and was planning a protest outside the "Israeli" consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday.

In recent days, Turkish media has been abuzz with reports that Kurdish leader Masoud Barazani has reached a secret deal with Tel aviv to have the descendants of Kurdish Jews in the "Israeli" entity repatriated to Kurdistan after the referendum.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team