Sunni Arab leader: Kurdistan Region has been a safe haven for the oppressed
"The Kurdistan Region, despite the challenges, has been a safe haven for all oppressed [peoples] and has protected them"
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Prominent Sunni tribal leader Ahmed Abu Risha stated on Sunday that the Kurdistan Region has consistently been a safe haven for the oppressed.
"The Kurdistan Region, despite the challenges, has been a safe haven for all oppressed [peoples] and has protected them," tweeted Abu Risha, who is the Chairman of the Iraqi Sahwa Congress and from Anbar province.
Abu Risha then argued that today's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should not face unnecessary accusations of treachery "because, if they surrendered yesterday's opponents, some people would not have been in today's government."
The statement is a reference to the Kurdistan Region offering refuge to opposition figures from central and southern Iraq when Saddam Hussein ruled over the country, before the dictator's ouster in 2003 by the US.
Abu Risha was tweeting in light of a controversial conference that took place in the Kurdistan Region that generated backlash and criticism from the Iraqi and Kurdish governments.
On Friday, a civil society organization called Center for Peace Communications organized a conference in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil which they claimed was about coexistence in Iraq. Instead, however, its organizers used it to advocate for Iraq establishing relations with the State of Israel.
The KRG was not made aware of @PeaceComCenter conference & was held without our approval or knowledge. The views of the conference does not reflect the views & policies of KRG. The KRG will take necessary measures to follow up on how this meeting was held.
— Jotiar Adil (@KRGSpokesperson) September 25, 2021
On Saturday, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Ministry of Interior issued a statement saying that the conference was not representative of its foreign policy, which is in line with Iraq's, and that it had been misled about the conference's true purpose.
"Legal procedures will be taken against those who used the conference for their own purpose," the ministry stated.
Also, the Iraqi supreme judicial council issued arrest warrants for six participants of the conference.
As a senior Sunni figure, Ahmad Abu Risha, 52, was assigned in 2007 to take the leadership of the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of tribal groups in the province. He met with US President Barack Obama twice. In 2008, he established a newspaper named Sahwat al-Iraq (Iraq's Awakening).
-- Dler Saber