Hoda Jassim (Baghdad)
Iraq protested against statements by the British ambassador in Baghdad and considered them interference in internal affairs.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that it had summoned the British Chargé d’Affaires in Baghdad, Ms. Ruth Coverdale, and handed her a memorandum of protest over statements made by British Ambassador Stephen Hickey, accusing him of “interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.” The Iraqi Foreign Ministry did not mention the text of the British ambassador’s statements or the place where he made them.
A statement by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry confirmed that “the statements made by the UK Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq touched on security and political issues in a way that reflects a bleak picture of Iraq, its government and components.” The ministry considered this “interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and a departure from the diplomatic duties assigned to the ambassador.”
The head of the European Department at the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bakr Ahmed Al-Jaf, pointed out that the partnership of opportunities is equal to the partnership of challenges, stressing the need to open up to the Iraqi experience from the perspective of common interests and avoiding what contradicts the serious vision that the Iraqi government and its constitutional institutions are working on, which has devoted itself to diverse economic and development paths, preceded by great efforts to establish security and enhance stability.
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