The Supreme Religious Authority shows its position on the referendum of the secession of northern Iraq (Kurdistan).

The Supreme Religious Authority shows its position on the referendum of northern Iraq, and warned of the repercussions of establishing an independent state in the north, stressing at the same time to abide by the Constitution letter and spirit to resolve differences.

These were the important points stated in the second sermon of Friday prayer of the 8th of Muharram 1439 AH corresponding to the September 29, 2017, which was held in the holy shrine of Imam al-Hussayn (peace be upon him) and led by Sayed Ahmad al-Safi, and in which he has shown the position of the supreme religious authority of the referendum, saying:

"As soon as the forbearing Iraqi people has overcome the ordeal of the ISIL terrorism, or has almost surpassed it, thanks to the sacrifices of the heroes in the armed forces and their supporting forces, a new attempt came, unfortunately, to divide the country and cut its north into an independent state. The first steps were done in spite of all the noble efforts made in order to discourage the brothers in Kurdistan region to proceed in this path.

The Supreme Religious Authority that has long stressed on the need to maintain the unity of the land and people of Iraq, has done what it could to renounce sectarianism and racism and to achieve equality among all Iraqis of various components, is calling on all parties to abide by the Iraqi Constitution in letter and spirit, and resorting in cases of disputes between the Federal Government and the Regional Government that cannot be resolved by political means, to the Federal Supreme court as determined in the Constitution and abide by its decisions and provisions.

The unilateral steps towards division and secession, trying to make it an accomplished fact, will lead with what will follow of internal and foreign reactions to the undesired consequences that affects primarily the lives of our dear Kurd citizens and may lead to what is more dangerous than that, God forbid, and will make room for the intervention of many regional and international parties in the Iraqi issue to implement their agenda and interests at the expense of the interest of our people and our homeland.

The Religious Authority, out of love and concern for the interests of all the people of Iraq, calls on the brothers responsible in the region to refer to the constitutional path in resolving the controversial issues between the Federal Government and the Regional Government.

And the Iraqi Government and the political forces represented in the House of Representatives should take into account in all its decisions and steps to preserve the constitutional rights of the Kurd brothers without prejudice to any of them.

Dear citizens, the recent political developments should not affect negatively the strong relationship between the sons of this homeland of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and others, but should be a reason for more communication between them and avoid anything that could harm the national cohesion among the Iraqi components."