War of words: Kurdish official calls on Iran's supreme leader to mind own business
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A senior official from the main ruling Kurdish party in Erbil has fired back against remarks by Iran's Supreme Leader who had said Tehran was opposed to the Kurdish referendum on independence, calling on the Ayatollah to mind his own business or else the Kurdistan Region could also be entitled to interfere in Iran's domestic affairs with regards to the fate of its minority groups.
“This referendum is taking place outside Iran, and therefore it is necessary for the officials of Iran and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic to not interfere in the [internal] affairs of other countries, mind their business, and take care of their own country,” Ali Awni, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leadership council told BBC Persian on Wednesday.
“I believe that the issue of holding referendum in Kurdistan Region first and foremost concerns the Kurdish nation, especially in this part of Kurdistan,” Awni said.
Upon receiving Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi in Tehran this week Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei described the Kurdish referendum as murmur adding that Iran was opposed to it.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran as a neighbor [to Iraq] is opposed to some murmurs to holding referendum to separate part Iraq and considers those who call for this issue as opposed to the independence and identity of Iraq,” Iran’s Tasnim News Agency quoted Khamenei as saying.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi [L] and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei meet in Tehran on June 20, 2017. Photo: Tasnim News Agency
For his part ,Awni said that the plan for a referendum had passed the "murmuring" stage and that it has actually been set for September 25.
Awni argued that Khamenei’s remarks mean that Erbil is also entitled to interfere in the affairs of Iran.
“Since he considers himself entitled to express his opinion about the situation in Kurdistan, then they should also give the same right to other nations, that we, too in Kurdistan are [entitled] to talk about the fate of the eastern Kurdistan, meaning Iran,” Awni said.
“This sort of remarks could only worsen the situation," he warned.
He went on to say that Kurdistan wanted to be a good neighbor to all of its neighbors and that more than two decades of self-rule had proven that the Kurdistan Region is no a source of threat to its neighbors.
“We have never been the source of threat or never threatened the national security of these four countries. On the contrary, we have been threatened by these four countries ," he continued, listing "terrorist infiltration" and espionage rings as examples.