Iraqi Politician: Qatar, Turkey Seeking to Disintegrate Iraq

A senior Iraqi politician said his country has obtained information which show that Qatar and Turkey are leading efforts to disintegrate Iraq.

“We (Iraqis) know that Qatar and Turkey are making strenuous attempts to disintegrate Iraq and we hold (undeniable) information in this regard,” a leading member of the Islamic Dawa Party Walid al-Helli told FNA on Wednesday.

“There is intelligence at hand which shows that Turkey and Qatar are trying to disintegrate Iraq into several states,” he added.

Yet, the Iraqi politician underlined solidarity among various ethnic and religious groups in his country, stressing that all Iraqi political groups, including the Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and Turkmen, will do their best to safeguard Iraq’s territorial integrity.

Iraq has in recent days turned into the scene of political conflicts and unrests in a number of provinces. Regional observers blame certain Arab countries of the region for the chaos.

Several anti-government demonstrations have been held in Iraq since December 23, 2012, when bodyguards of Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi were arrested on terrorism-related charges.

Earlier this month, a senior Iraqi legislator said that the meddling of the Saudi, Turkish and Qatari spy agencies in Iraq has derailed the rallies held in the country in the last few weeks from their legal path.

“The rallies which started in Iraq’s Western districts were spontaneous and the demonstrators had legal demands but the interference of the Saudi, Qatari and Turkish plots turned the protests into the current (violent) form,” Representative of Iraqi Kurdistan region in the parliament Mahmoud Othman was quoted as saying by Boratha news agency.

He said that meeting the demands raised during the rallies is not possible since they are sectarian demands and reflect the will of the foreign sides.

Also in January, a senior Iraqi legislator called on the Baghdad government to lodge a complaint with the UN and the Arab League against Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for stirring and meddling in the recent unrests in Iraq’s al-Anbar province.

“There is certain pieces of information showing that Saudi Arabia and Qatar support the rallies in Iraq and that the rallies are planned and financed by Turkey,” Aliya Nassif said in a statement at the time.

“The existing information indicates that huge amounts of money have been spent on provoking such rallies in Iraq in a move to repeat the Syrian experience this time in Iraq,” she said, calling on the Iraqi government to pursue the case with the relevant international bodies.

“In case of proving the authenticity of the information, the Iraqi foreign ministry should comply with its duty and file lawsuits against these governments and sides at the Arab League and the UN to prevent foreign intervention in Iraq’s internal affairs,” Nassif said.