Iraq’s Kurds say will boycott Cabinet meetings
12 July 2014 4:54 AM IST
Iraq’s Kurds on Thursday said their politicians will stay away from Cabinet meetings and called on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down, blaming him the failure to stop the offensive by Sunni insurgents, in a further sign of the deteriorating relationship between the Shiite leader and the Kurds.
The boycott of Cabinet meetings was in protest against comments a day earlier by al-Maliki, who accused the largely autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq of harbouring the Sunni militants who have overrun much of the country. The prime minister provided no evidence, and the Kurds denied the allegations.
Deputy Prime Minister Roz Nouri Shawez, the highest level Kurdish official in the government, told reporters on Thursday that ‘such statements are meant to hide the big security fiasco by blaming others, and we announce our boycott of Cabinet meetings.’ Kurds also hold the Cabinet posts for foreign affairs, trade, health and immigration and displacement.
The move is largely symbolic, since the government has continued operating in the past when the Sunni bloc fully withdrew its ministers from the Cabinet. But it underlines the deepening split between al-Maliki and the Kurds. The presidency of the Kurdish self-rule region said al-Maliki ‘has become hysterical and has lost his balance.’ ‘He is doing everything he can to justify his failures and put the blame on others for these failures,’ the Kurdish region’s presidency said in a statement posted on its website late on Wednesday. It accused al-Maliki of destroying the country, and demanded that he step down.
The boycott of Cabinet meetings was in protest against comments a day earlier by al-Maliki, who accused the largely autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq of harbouring the Sunni militants who have overrun much of the country. The prime minister provided no evidence, and the Kurds denied the allegations.
Deputy Prime Minister Roz Nouri Shawez, the highest level Kurdish official in the government, told reporters on Thursday that ‘such statements are meant to hide the big security fiasco by blaming others, and we announce our boycott of Cabinet meetings.’ Kurds also hold the Cabinet posts for foreign affairs, trade, health and immigration and displacement.
The move is largely symbolic, since the government has continued operating in the past when the Sunni bloc fully withdrew its ministers from the Cabinet. But it underlines the deepening split between al-Maliki and the Kurds. The presidency of the Kurdish self-rule region said al-Maliki ‘has become hysterical and has lost his balance.’ ‘He is doing everything he can to justify his failures and put the blame on others for these failures,’ the Kurdish region’s presidency said in a statement posted on its website late on Wednesday. It accused al-Maliki of destroying the country, and demanded that he step down.
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