La CEOSI mantiene la convocatoria de la Conferencia Internacional de la Resistencia Política Iraquí

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CEOSI maintains its call for the activities of the International Conference of the Political Resistance.

Statement of the Spanish Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI)

IraqSolidaridad (www.iraqsolidaridad.org), June 3, 2010

The Spanish Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq maintains its call for the activities planned in Gijón and Madrid between June 18 and June 21.

“In an official note released on Tuesday, June 1 in Baghdad [4], the Iraqi Foreign Ministry reported that ‘(...) the diplomatic measures taken by the Iraqi government have been answered in a letter from the Spanish Foreign Minister [Miguel Ángel Moratinos] to his Iraqi counterpart’ in which the Spanish government confirmed its decision to prevent the planned activities in Gijón and Madrid and to not grant a visa to enter Spain to Iraqi participants living in Iraq or in neighboring countries.”

In connection with the activities organized by the Spanish Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI) in Gijón from June 18-20 and in Madrid on June 21 within the framework of the International Conference of the Iraqi Political Resistance: Iraq, sovereignty and democratic reconstruction [1] and following the decision of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of defaulting on its commitment to the CEOSI organizers to facilitate the granting of visas to the Iraqi participants [2], CEOSI states the following:

1. CEOSI has decided to maintain the call and carry out the planned activities in Gijón and Madrid on the dates specified and mentioned above [3], trying to do as much as possible to alleviate the failure to grant visas to some of the Iraqi delegates and counting on the continued commitment and participation of international personalities and representatives of European and U.S. organizations involved in the initiative.

In this regard, the institutions of the Principality of Asturias and Gijón City Council have also ratified the CEOSI decision, maintaining their support for the initiative and joining with the organizers in expressing their bewilderment and disagreement with the changed attitude of the Spanish government.

2. CEOSI rejects the Spanish government's submission to pressures and threats of economic retaliation by the acting Iraqi government. In an official note released on Tuesday, June 1 in Baghdad [4], the Iraqi Foreign Ministry reported that "(...) the diplomatic measures taken by the Iraqi government have been answered in a letter from the Spanish Foreign Minister [ Miguel Ángel Moratinos] to his Iraqi counterpart "in which the Spanish government confirmed its decision to prevent the planned activities in Gijón and Madrid and to not grant a visa to enter Spain to Iraqi participants living in Iraq or in neighboring countries.

It is absolutely unacceptable for a sovereign state to submit to extortion from an entity created by an illegal occupation, kept in office by sectarian violence, the mass exodus of its citizens and electoral fraud, and who are renowned for having the highest international levels of violations of human rights and corruption.

3. The unexpected change of attitude of the Spanish Government with regard to the initiative of CEOSI, when the international call for the activities in Gijón and Madrid had already been announced, puts the Iraqi participants in a situation of extreme vulnerability. In this regard, in a new notice sent today, June 3, to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, CEOSI reiterates to the Spanish government its request to ensure the safety of its Iraqi invitees and that the Spanish government insist that the Iraqi authorities withdraw the widespread and slanderous accusations made against the invitees by the acting Iraqi government [5], again repeated in the abovementioned note of June 1.

As indicated in the previous statement of CEOSI on May 28, the accusations of the authorities in Baghdad against the Iraqi participants of the Gijón Conference seriously compromise the Spanish government itself, which in the past has not only granted visas to enter Spain to most of these invitees, but has received them in meetings held alternately in the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid and in the Congress of Deputies. Moreover, the aforementioned Iraqi participants also had official exchanges with Spain's ambassador to Baghdad.

Notas:

1. International Conference of the Iraqi Political Resistance: Gijón (Spain), June 18-20, 2010.

2. The Spanish Government is trying to stop the activities in Gijón and Madrid.

3. Public Activities Program: Gijón (Spain), June 18-20, 2010

4. In Arabic, web of Iraqi Foreign Ministry:

http://www.mofa.gov.iq/arabic/news/display.aspx?newsid=8494.

5. The Iraqi Government Demands that Spain Block the Conference Scheduled for Gijon and Madrid.

CEOSI maintains its call for the activities of the International Conference of the Political Resistance