BAGHDAD – Iraq’s top court on Monday temporarily suspended the northern Kurdish region’s referendum on independence that’s due next week, a decision that put further pressure on the Iraqi Kurds to call off the controversial vote.
The Supreme Court in Baghdad released a statement saying it “ssued a national order to suspend the referendum procedures … until the resolution of the cases regarding the constitutionality of said decision.”
The move is just the latest in a number of rulings from Iraq’s central government attempting to stop the vote. On Sept 12 Iraq’s parliament voted to reject the controversial referendum and on Sept 14 the lawmakers voted to dismiss the ethnically mixed Kirkuk province’s Kurdish governor who supports the referendum.
Despite strong opposition from Baghdad, regional leaders and the United States — a key ally of Iraq’s Kurds — Kurdish officials have continued to pledge the vote will be held. It is not immediately clear if the local government in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region would abide by Mondays’ court ruling. – READ MORE
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