Statement by Iraqiyya List Regarding Boycotting Parliament Sessions

Baghdad, December 17, 2011

Download Statement by Iraqiya List Regarding Boycotting Parliament Sessions (PDF)

The official spokeswoman for Iraqiyya block, Mrs. Maysoun Al-Damaloudgi, said:

Iraqiyya coalition held an urgent meeting at the residency of the senior member Tariq Al-Hashimi at late hours last night; the meeting included a big number of leaders and members of the coalition, Ministers and House Representatives. The attendees have discussed the latest political developments, especially what happened in Diyala province, such as the phenomenon of unofficial armed groups, as well as discussing a number of important and essential issues including the deployment of military tanks and security forces inside the Green Zone and in front of Iraqiyya leaders’ offices and residencies.
The attendees have exchanged their thoughts and views regarding the ideal method to exit the current crisis, as an attempt to reach the right formula by which all parties shall be satisfied, the meeting resulted in the following:

[Official Statement]
In the name of God the most merciful, the most compassionate
An official statement by Iraqiyya coalition
Iraqiyya coalition has over and over warned from the seriousness of the absence of National Partnership symbols within the political process, and the necessity of facing the challenges that face Iraq as a country by relying on the partnership agreement the political blocks reached in Irbil.

Iraqiyya has over and over expressed its rejection of the policies of exclusion and marginalization, judiciary politicization, as well as the nonexistence of national balance within the government institutions, abandoning the constitution, violating the valid laws and using repression methods and terrifying innocent citizens. We warned that all of those methods are reasons that will lead the Iraqi people eventually to make some hard choices in order to get rid of the Iron Fist of the central government, especially with the existence of the constitutional alternative/option. [Federalism]

Iraqiyya has formed delegations and spoken to all political blocks seeking to avoid the snowballing crises. However, it seems that SOME POLITICIANS have bet on keeping their positions through using methods of escalating the problems instead of containing them and building the state.

And instead of executing/achieving the agreement of Irbil, all the partnership and agreements specifying the [executive] security authorities were abandoned, and this is why the security ministries are still vacant although we are approaching the end of the “second year of the elections age.”

A sequence of procedures that aims to threaten the security and the social peace has begun, such as the random arrest campaigns with poor excuses, terrifying the provincial councils, and supporting the unofficial armed groups, which are the methods the government use to deal with the demands of the provincial councils of Karbala, Salah Al-Deen and Diyala provinces. Diyala now is a province that has defected, especially with existence of unofficial armed groups who are supported by the government and work outside the framework of the law. They are terrifying the legitimate provincial council, which shows the injustice and the unprofessionalism of the security forces that Iraqiyya has always called for reforming.
All of what above is in addition to the failure to observe the national and international standards of human rights, and what had happened to our Christian brothers and Turkmen Brothers is a good example. Moreover, it has reached the point where simplest political protocols between opposing politicians are violated, such as deploying military armored tanks inside the Green Zone and in front of the offices and residences of some of Iraqiya coalition seniors. Therefore, Iraqiya sees that continuing such approach by the government cannot be tolerated and it will eventually lead the country to the unknown.

And based on its moral, political and constitutional responsibilities, and in order to put everyone in front of these responsibilities to manage the crisis and to make the Iraqi public more aware; Iraqiyya coalition declares its self-suspension from participating the parliament sessions starting from today’s date and until further notice, and calls for an urgent and immediate negotiating table in order to obtain realistic and successful solutions that shall support the democratic track and build a civil, institutional state.

Iraqiyya also assures that it preserves its right to practice its constitutional options which would suffice to achieve its fair demands.

Translated by Omar Abdullah