Iran joined Turkey in protesting against the Iraqi Kurdistan region's issuance of a postage stamp that includes a map of an entity from cut off parts of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran, while the region quickly clarified the story of issuing the stamp and confirmed that it has not yet been approved.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement on Wednesday that the stamp contradicts international foundations and rules, noting that Iran expresses its protest to the Iraqi government in this regard, and calls for "the withdrawal of the stamp and the immediate correction of this unfriendly measure."
Khatib Zadeh demanded that the stamp be withdrawn and what he described as a non-friendly procedure be corrected immediately (Anatolia)
Before that, the Turkish Foreign Ministry called on the region to "immediately correct" the aforementioned postage.
The ministry said in a statement, "Some officials of the Kurdistan region of Iraq took advantage of Pope Francesco's visit to the region to reveal their initial dreams about the territorial integrity of the countries neighboring Iraq," stressing that the regional government authorities remember well the disappointment of hopes in what he described as "these pernicious ambitions."
The ministry called on the regional authorities to "provide the necessary explanation and prompt correction of the serious error as soon as possible."
The stamp issued by the Kurdistan region of Iraq on the occasion of the Pope’s visit (communication sites)
Territory position
In response to these protests, the spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Gutiar Adel, said that artists submitted samples of proposed stamp designs to be printed on the occasion of the Pope's visit to Iraq.
He added that so far, none of these models have been approved, indicating that "the design that will be approved for printing will be in accordance with the constitution and the law."
The Kurdistan Regional Government issued many postage stamps on the occasion of the Pope's visit to it, including a stamp showing a map of what is known as Greater Kurdistan, including the Kurdish regions in Iran, Turkey, Syria and other regional countries.
IKBY'den Papa için 'Sözde Kürdistan' haritalı pul https://t.co/qbOt9xqWK9 pic.twitter.com/rreR8tJca1
- Cumhuriyet (@cumhuriyetgzt) March 10, 2021
It is noteworthy that the Iraqi Kurdistan region held a referendum for secession from Baghdad on September 25, 2017, and angered the Iraqi government and regional states.
The referendum was also met with strong opposition from the United States and several Western countries, fearing that it would destabilize the region and create a new conflict with Baghdad, and at that time Washington formally asked the region’s president at the time, Masoud Barzani, to postpone the referendum, and later confirmed that it did not recognize its results due to its lack of legitimacy.