Referendum

Let The People Of Southern Kurdistan Decide Their Destiny

Thursday 20 January, 7-9pm

Room 9, Committee room

House of Commons
Westminster, WC1

Panel debate & discussion

The meeting is hosted and chaired by

Hon. Rudi Vis (MP)
The Panel of speakers will include: Mr. Halkaut Adbullah, Mr. Fauzi Atrushi (Kurdistan Referendum Movement /Southern Kurdistan Representatives) & Lajan Jabary (Kurdistan Referendum Movement/UK)

 We are pleased to announce that we will be joined by special guests from Southern Kurdistan, Mr. Halkaut Adbullah and Mr. Fauzi Atrushi.

Once again the Kurds have been put at the mercy of the future Iraqi government in Baghdad.  Such a government is likely to be dominated by fanatic Arab nationalists and radical religious groups who do not recognize the Kurds’ rights. The Kurdish issue in southern Kurdistan should not be left in the mercy of the regional powers. The Kurdish issue is an international one and needs to be recognised by international community. A road-map to provide a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue is badly needed in order to provide peace and security to the regional and to the international community.

The Kurdistan Referendum Movement (KRM) has been considered the widest civic organization in southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan and to collect over 1.7 million signatures endorsing a call for a referendum on the future of Southern Kurdistan.

A non-partisan and civil delegation from the Kurdistan Referendum Movement met United Nations officials in New York on 22 December 2004 and delivered 1,732,535 signatures collected by Kurds. The New York meeting was supported by a European one. On 5th January 2005, another delegation from the KRM presented the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva with a petition calling for a referendum on the future of Southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan.

Kurds are a distinctive nation different from Iraqi Arabs ethnically and culturally. Kurdistan was forcibly annexed to Iraq early last century without any respect for the wishes of the Kurdish people. History proved to us that this co-existence with the Arabs in Iraq did not work for the Kurds and resulted in catastrophe.  The experiment of 80 years living with, and being ruled by, Arabs within Iraq has proven to be a failed and disastrous one. The fact that the Kurdistan Referendum Movement was able to collect so many signatures demanding referendum is a solid testimony to the desire and the will of the Kurds.

 The Kurdistan Referendum Movement calls for the organization of a referendum in Kurdistan so as to reflect the popular will of people of Kurdistan in practicing their inalienable right to self determination and correcting the unjust annexation of Southern Kurdistan (Mosul Wilayet) to the newly created state of Iraq in 1925.  Further, it calls for the autonomous Kurdistan region to be expanded to include the northern oil centre city of Kirkuk and other provinces, which have been historically part of Kurdistan and the majority of their inhabitants have been Kurds.

Practically conduction a referendum would not face difficulties. With one and a half million Kurds living in Europe, those who are eligible to vote for Iraq’s upcoming election will have their democratic say by using voting stations across Europe. At the same time, they call for the support of the European countries to recognize their right to self-determination and to hold a free referendum to decide democratically on the future of Kurdistan.

To stabilise Iraq and the region and to eliminate the blood-shed in Iraq, it is vital to take the voice of its people into the socio-political process. Kurds, an important element of today's Iraq, must not be forced to be part of Iraq, if they wish otherwise.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please arrive at least half an hour before the meeting as it will take some time to get through the security at Parliament.

Higher Committees of Kurdistan Referendum Movement / UK

Lajan Jabary: lajan1001@yahoo.com

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