Iraqi officials who voted in poll set for sacking

By Haidar Hadi

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraqi state TV employees pushed on Tuesday for the dismissal of Kurdish-origin civil servants who participated in Monday’s controversial independence referendum.

Gathering in front of the state TV building in Baghdad, dozens of employees demanded that Hiva Osman, a member of the Iraq Press Network Board of Trustees, be sacked for participating in the regional poll.

"We want him removed from his duties as a state official," Munaf Hasan, another member of the board, told Anadolu Agency.

Emphasizing that what did Osman promoted Iraq’s disintegration, Hasan went on to say that his actions could be assessed by the Iraqi parliament resolution passed Monday redeploying troops to disputed areas, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Similarly, Hamdiye Huseyni, a Shia National Alliance deputy in Iraq’s parliament, urged fellow lawmakers to dismiss deputies who took part in the vote.

Stressing that those deputies violated Article 50 of the Constitution, he added, "Kurdish lawmakers who participated in the referendum should be removed.”

In Article 50, containing the deputy’s oath of office, lawmakers swear to “preserve the independence and sovereignty of Iraq, and …. [its] federal democratic system."

On Monday, the non-binding referendum saw Iraqis in Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)-controlled areas -- and in a handful of territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad -- vote on whether or not to declare independence.

Along with Iraq’s central government, Turkey, the U.S., Iran and the UN spoke out against the referendum, saying it would distract from the ongoing fight against Daesh and further destabilize the region.

* Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara.