Politics

'KRG oil contracts are constitutional, Iraq's top court is not': Professor Brendan O'Leary

"Whatever decision comes out of this court is illegal and unconstitutional because the court itself is illegal and unconstitutional."

Dler S. Mohammed 2022/07/20 15:33

Brendan O'Leary, Professor of Political Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania (Photo: University of Pennsylvania)

Iraq Iraq Kurdistan Region Krg KRG Oil and Gas Kurdistan Region energy sector KRG oil contracts Iraqi Federal Supreme Court Brendan OLeary

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) oil contracts with international oil companies are legal, and the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruling against them is not, Professor of Political Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania Brendan O'Leary told Kurdistan 24.

"The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court is not constitutional because, according to Article 92 of the Iraqi constitution, the court must have had founded by the votes of two-thirds of the Iraqi parliament's members. And that didn't happen, so the court has no legal basis," O'Leary told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.

"Whatever decision comes out of this court is illegal and unconstitutional because the court itself is illegal and unconstitutional," he emphasized.

"If a lawsuit gets registered at an international court against Iraq's Federal Supreme Court's decision over the KRG oil and gas law, Iraq's top court will surely lose and suffer great financial damage," he noted.

Professor O'Leary affirmed that "the KRG oil and gas law and its oil contracts with the international oil companies are legal and in accordance with the Iraqi constitution."

O'Leary noted that while the Iraqi government has repeatedly violated the constitution, the Kurds have never done anything that was not in line with it.

"The Kurdistan Region must take its constitutional rights through the parliament and obligate it to implement the constitution's articles," he said.

According to his profile on the University of Pennsylvania website, O'Leary has Irish and American citizenship and has been the Lauder Professor of Political Science at the university since 2003.

"He is the author, co-author, and co-editor of thirty books and collections, and the author or co-author of hundreds of articles or chapters in peer-reviewed journals, university presses, encyclopedia articles, and other forms of publication, including op-eds," read the profile.