Iraq top court voids Kurd referendum

baghdad — Iraq’s top court on Monday declared the Kurdish north’s independence referendum in September to be unconstitutional, firing a new salvo in the political crisis with the autonomous region.

The legal move marked the latest stage in the dispute between Baghdad and Kurdish regional capital Arbil sparked by the referendum, which resulted in a resounding “yes” vote for independence in the Kurdish area.

A statement said the Supreme Court “rendered a decision declaring unconstitutional the referendum held on September 25, 2017, in Iraqi Kurdistan... and cancelling all the consequences and results”.

Last week, as the deadline announced by the court for its decision on the constitutionality of the referendum approached, the Kurdistan government said it “respected” the decisions taken by Iraq’s highest court. It also said it respect- ed a previous decision on Article 1 in the constitution insisting on Iraqi unity, which could be a basis for dialogue.

On Monday, the court again cited this article in its ruling, saying that the holding of the Kurdish independence referendum “contradicts and contravenes it”, its spokesman Ayas Al Samuk said in the statement.

Parliament in Baghdad is currently reviewing the federal budget for the coming year, including the allocation for the Kurdish region.

There was no immediate response to Monday’s ruling from the Kurdish authorities.

But Abdel Salam Barwari, a former deputy and member of former Kurdish leader Massud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party, denounced it. “It was a predictable decision given the past of this court and the fact that it has now become a political tool,” he said. —