Deputy Speaker Hawrami says Iraq’s security weaknesses prevent safe return of Yazidis and Christians

15th June 2019 – The Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament Mr. Hemin Hawrami and several MPs on 13th June spoke at a conference in Duhok on the recovery and return of the Yazidis and Christians in Iraq.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami said the Kurdistan Region is a model for Iraq and the Middle East of a peaceful, tolerant society that respects all religions and ethnicities. He said that Kurdistan is committed to protecting minorities’ rights, freedoms and political representation.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami said that 32,000 people who returned home to Mosul came back to IDP camps again in 2018, because Iraq and the international community did not create the right conditions for their return.

He highlighted that Yazidis and Christians cannot return because of security gaps and weaknesses. The Iraqi budget for the Popular Mobilisation Fronts (PMFs) militias is 1.5 times that of the official Iraqi forces, and three times that of the counter-terrorism forces.

Several Kurdistan Parliament MPs representing Christian and Turkmen parties and a Yazidi MP also spoke at the conference, which was organised by the American University of Kurdistan–Duhok, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Open Think Tank.The MPs who participated were Janan Jabar Boya, Robina Litari (National Union Coalition), Yazidi MP Hedya Murad Khidr (KDP), Muhammad Elkhani and Sara Chawshli (Turkmen Development Party).

Good governance and fulfilling constitutional responsibilities are essential for the recovery and return of Yazidis and Christians, Deputy Speaker Hawrami said. The current Iraqi budget does not address these security concerns, nor the implemention of Article 140 of the Constitution on the disputed territories.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami said that one of the Kurdistan Parliament’s priorities this term is continuing to draft the Kurdistan Constitution, with the help of experts and all the ethnic and religious components of Kurdistan. He said, “We will listen to their views, we will not impose our ideas on them.”

The peaceful coexistence between all ethnicities in Kurdistan should be protected, and Christians and Turkmen participating in the political process is very important, Mr. Hawrami added. Attempts to eliminate the minimum quota of MPs from Christian and Turkmen parties will be resisted, he said.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami thanked the organisers of the conference and said that Parliament respects the important role of civil society and learns from their recommendations.