'32 Iraqi ambassadors have dual nationality'

Article 18/4 of the Iraqi Constitution prevents Iraqis who are in a sovereign or senior military position to hold any other nationality other than Iraqi.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Iraqi Foreign Minister summoned by the parliament revealed that nearly half of the Iraqi ambassadors have dual citizenship.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the dismissed Iraqi Foreign Minister was summoned by the Iraqi parliament on Thursday. He stated that out of the 66 Iraqi ambassadors 32 have dual nationality.”

He added that “All the ambassadors were appointed and authenticated by the parliament between 2004 to 2009.”

Article 18/4 of the Iraqi Constitution prevents Iraqis who are in a sovereign or senior military position to hold any other nationality other than Iraqi.

However, many high-ranking Iraqi officials hold dual nationality, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari who have British citizenship, and the Parliament Speaker Saleem al-Jibouri, holds Qatari citizenship.

Adil Nuri, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament in an interview with Kurdistan24 said that Ibrahim al-Jaafari has not been summoned by the parliament yet.

He added the Thursday’s session where parliament questioned Jaafari was just a show.

“Summoning Jaafari will proceed as planned but it will be after the end of parliament vocation,” Nuri said.  

Nuri explained that there is extensive pressure on him to recall the summoning of the Iraqi Foreign Minister, “I am under pressure by the party as well as Kurdistan and Iraq,” he added.

“Despite all the pressures, I will proceed with the summoning, because Jaafari does not fit the position of Foreign Minister,” the Kurdish MP told Kurdistan24.

Adil Nouri, previously told Kurdistan24 that 70 signatures have been collected to bring Jaafari back to the parliament to question him about corruption cases related to his ministry.

 

Editing by Ava Homa