France’s Macron backs Kadhimi’s calls for dialogue amid protests

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday expressed support for Iraq Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s calls for dialogue as protestors continue to stage an open-ended sit-in at the parliament.

“I am very concerned about the situation in Iraq. Calm and restraint must prevail,” Macron wrote in a Twitter reply to Kadhimi.

Thousands of supporters of the Iran-backed Coordination Framework took to the streets on Monday in counter-protests as Iraqis loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr staged an open-ended sit-in at the Iraqi parliament.

PM Kadhimi urged national dialogue to find a political solution to the unrest that could lead to “dire consequences.” 

Macron said he supported the premier’s call. 

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday afternoon renewed his calls of negotiations while welcoming Kadhimi's initiative. 

Affirming his support for the PM, Barzani said “Iraq needs dialogue, understanding and joint responsibility to save it.” 

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi also welcomed Kadhimi’s initiative.

"We support the initiative of the prime minister to find a formula for a solution regarding the events taking place in the country," Halbousi said. 

However, the calls for dialogue are not viewed favorably by supporters of the Sadrist Movement who have rejected negotiations with the rival Coordination Framework.

"There is nothing called the [Coordination] Framework at all," Sadr office head Ibrahim Jabiri said on Monday, adding that members of the framework have had separate statements. 

Tensions between the Sadrist Movement and the Coordination Framework escalated in June following the withdrawal of all 73 MPs of the Sadrist bloc from parliament.

Thousands of Sadr supporters staged a sit-in at the Iraqi parliament on Saturday after they pulled down heavy concrete barricades on roads to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, storming the area in protest of the framework's nominee for Iraqi premiership.

Halbousi further stressed his calls for dialogue and "taking practical steps to resolve the current crisis, leading to parliamentary and local elections, according to specific timelines."

The UK Ambassador to Iraq Mark Bryson-Richardson also encouraged “all parties to work to bring the country out of political crisis,” while calling for the formation of a government “in keeping with the constitution and in the service of the Iraqi people.” 

Prominent Coordination Framework leaders have issued different statements.

Senior Fatih coalition member Qais al-Khazali on Monday called on supporters in Baghdad to withdraw and go home while Nouri al-Maliki, the head of the State of Law Coalition, asked protestors not to enter the Green Zone but did not ask them to cease protesting.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani has offered to host talks between Sadr and the framework, a gesture that was welcomed by the latter.

Iraq's political impasse has reached unprecedented depths. The country is trapped in a suffocating political turmoil and currently experiencing a record period devoid of a cabinet at almost ten months.

Updated at 2:57 pm