Christian group warns against inclusion of Nineveh Plains in referendum

ERBIL, Kurdistan – A Christian movement threatened on Thursday that they would oppose the inclusion of the Nineveh Plains, notably Christian areas, in the upcoming Kurdistan independence referendum.

 

"We respect the will of the Kurdish nation in their decision to exercise their self-determination right as they are believed to be holding referendum on September 25, but this should not be imposed on the Christians and residents of the Nineveh Plains through signature collection under intimidation," the Babylon Movement said in a statement.

 

The movement, operating within the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi, also warned that the "referendum must only include the territories of the Kurdistan Region and we will not allow the inclusion of Nineveh Plains areas."

 

"These areas must be distanced from rivalries," the movement asserted.

 

The Babylon Movement is a Christian Chaldean group of fighters mostly embedded with Shiite forces, fighting ISIS south and west of Mosul.

 

Erbil has set September 25 as the date to hold a referendum on independence in the Kurdistan Region and disputed, or Kurdistani, areas claimed both by Erbil and Baghdad, such as Kirkuk and the Nineveh Plains.

 

Without naming them, the movement accused some Christian MPs and figures of supporting the Kurdish move and following their own political interests.

 

"Some parliamentarians and politicians of the Christian community who opposed the referendum in the Nineveh Plains have now changed their position in  a matter of days, and ignored the words of the Nineveh Plains residents, pursuing their own personal and political interests," it went on to claim.

 

They say they have already informed the international community and the UN of their stance.

 

"As Babylon, we will not negotiate on decisive questions such as the unity and sovereignty of Iraq. There are some steady bases which no politician or MPs are allowed to [shake]," the statement said.