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August 20th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : A delegation from Iraq’s Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR), tasked with holding official talks on the independence referendum was scheduled to meet the influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the city of Najaf, some 170 kilometers south of Baghdad. However, the meeting has been delayed, reportedly because of scheduling differences.
Shiite cleric and Shiite political figurehead Muqtada al-Sadr called on Massoud Barzani, President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) to “postpone” and eventually “cancel” the referendum on the independence of the KAR. The referendum has been scheduled for September 25.
Al-Sadr, like Iran, calls for canceling the referendum and for Iraqi unity. In an earlier statement Al-Sadr said “Iraq is one and is for all”. Turkey also expressed dissatisfaction with the prospect of an independent Kurdistan. The United States and several U.S. allies welcome the referendum but stress that the timing is bad and that the fight against ISIS should have priority. Russia, disagreeing with current regional ally Iran, endorsed the referendum.
Instead of meeting al-Sadr the KAR delegation met with Iraq’s Turkmen Front. It announced earlier that the delegation is in Baghdad until Monday to hold “important” and “decisive” talks with the ruling Shiite National Alliance which also includes Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s Dawa party. Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki, also a former PM, is the head of the Dawa Party.
Sadr’s Movement has 34 seats in the Iraqi parliament. It is a member of the Shiite National Alliance but has suspended its membership due to political differences with other members of the Alliance, in particular Maliki’s State of Law Coalition.
Sadr has recently visited the United Arab Emirates, after a similar visit to Saudi Arabia where he met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, or MoB as he is known, a staunch opponent of Iranian influence in Iraq and the region. The Shiite cleric al-Sadr is behind the weekly protests against the Iraqi government as well as the Kurdish-headed Iraqi election commission. In April his supporters stormed the Iraqi parliament building, the first such incident to occur since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The delegation visited Baghdad last Monday and has since met with many Iraqi officials, including PM Abadi, VP Maliki, Iraqi parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri, and the Shiite National Alliance. The Iraqi officials have said that any step taken by the Kurdistan Region including the referendum should have constitutional backing, with Maliki suggesting that the constitution may have to be amended in order to allow the vote. They also met with more than a dozen embassies in the Iraqi capital including those from the United States, Iran, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Russia.
Baghdad has called the referendum unconstitutional and unilateral, and said it will not recognize the result. The Kurdistan Autonomous Region says Iraq pushed Erbil into calling for the referendum by violating at least 50 articles of the Iraqi constitution, including Article 140 that concerns disputed or Kurdistani areas claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad, and the budget-share which was cut in early-2014. The visiting Kurdistani negotiating team maintains that they are sticking to holding the referendum as scheduled, on September 25.
F/AK – nsnbc 20.08.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/08/20/meeting-between-shiite-cleric-al-sadr-and-delegation-from-iraqs-kurdistan-autonomous-region-delayed/
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