Iraq MPs Divided over Kurdish Deployment to Syria

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The Iraqi parliament is divided over the planned deployment of Kurdish forces to aid the embattled Syrian town of Kobane, with some parliamentarians saying Friday the move violates the constitution.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region aims to send peshmerga fighters to help defend Kobane from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which is besieging the town and also holds major territory in Iraq.

But the planned deployment, which comes at a time when Kurdish forces are still engaged in heavy fighting against IS militants in Iraq, stretches the bounds of Kurdish regional autonomy.

The deployment is "illegal and unconstitutional," said Samira al-Mussawi, a member of parliament's foreign relations committee.

They are "guards for the (Kurdish) region," she told Agence France Presse.

Member of parliament Alia Nasayif said in an emailed statement that the deployment violates multiple articles of Iraq's constitution.

She cited sections including Article 78, which names the premier as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and Article 110, which outlines powers reserved for the federal government, including formulating foreign and national security policy.

Nasayif expressed surprise at "the peshmerga forces focusing on defending the Syrian town of Kobane instead of focusing on defending Tal Afar and Sinjar and other Iraqi towns."

But other members of parliament defended the deployment as justified while the lack of public comment on the issue by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and other senior officials may indicate their tacit approval.

"Terrorism is a global issue, and it is up to all forces that are working for the sake of liberty and democratic life... to take part in fighting terrorism," Kurdish MP Shirko Mohammed told AFP.

"For us, it is a humanitarian matter -- there are people besieged by barbaric forces and it is up to all communities and people to defend" them, Mohammed said.

He added that the Kurdish parliamentary alliance had twice read a statement on the matter in parliament and had not received any opposition or other reply.

MP Hakim al-Zamili, a senior leader in one of the country's largest Shiite militias, said the deployment is "natural" and "in the interest of the Iraqi people, because the Iraqi and Syrian arenas are one."

If IS "achieved victory, it would move to Iraq and will kill" Iraqis, Zamili said.

Comments 1
Thumb Hayek.Feghali.Abdelatif 24 October 2014, 16:05

Samira al-Mussawi "The deployment is illegal and unconstitutional" ...
Alia Nasayif "the peshmerga forces focusing on defending the Syrian town of Kobane instead of focusing on defending Iraqi towns."

the two Iraqi Shiite MPs are expressing what we said about Hezbollah deployment in Syria to protect Bashar Assad and to defend the Syrian regime instead of focusing on defending Lebanon. Their best fighter are getting killed in Syria while their reservists get caught napping on the border.

At least the Kurds can claim that they have some kind of autonomy, Hezballah does not even have autonomy over their own decisions, to paraphrase Nasrallah "what the Ayatollah what the Ayatollah gets."