World should accept Kurdistan Referendum outcome if strong majority vote ‘Yes’: Swedish MP

A Swedish member of parliament on Tuesday said the international community should respect the will of the people in the upcoming referendum on independence for the Kurdistan Region scheduled for Sep. 25.
kurdistan24.net

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – A Swedish member of parliament on Tuesday said the international community should respect the will of the people in the upcoming referendum on independence for the Kurdistan Region scheduled for Sep. 25.

The Kurdish community in Sweden on Tuesday held a panel in support of the Kurdistan Region's referendum in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm.

Many Swedish lawmakers and politicians attended the panel where they discussed the democratic right of the people in the Kurdistan Region to decide on their future peacefully.

“We think it is very important that Sweden, as a free, and democratic country, a country that strongly supports human rights around the world, to have a clear stance and support the right of the Kurdish people to decide their future,” Fredrik Malm, Member of the Liberal Party in Sweden Parliament told Kurdistan 24.

“I hope governments around the world will also be clear that if a strong majority in Kurdistan [Region] wants to declare independence, the outside world and the European Union (EU) member states should also accept the result. It is the will of the people,” Malm added.

Lawen Redar, a Kurdish member of the leading Social Democrats Party in Sweden Parliament, told Kurdistan 24 that his party officially supports the Kurdistan Region's referendum.

The Social Democrats Party is the largest political party in Sweden with 113 seats in the parliament. It also leads the Swedish government.

Over five million people are eligible to vote in the Kurdistan Region referendum, and many voters live in the Diaspora, of which Sweden has a large population.

In spite of the increasing pressure from Baghdad, neighboring countries and the major powers to postpone the vote, the Kurdistan Region's leadership insists on holding the referendum, stating the people of the Kurdistan Region have the right to peacefully and democratically determine their future.

 

Editing by G.H. Renaud

(Awara Hawrami contributed to this report from Stockholm)