RIYADH – The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summoned the Iraqi envoy to the Kingdom to lodge protest over a statement by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on a recent court verdict in Bahrain. Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani handed on Monday the Iraqi Charge de Affaires in Riyadh Ahmad Anwar Abdul-Hameed an official protest over the remarks on the ruling against a Bahraini citizen who broke the law, the GCC Secretariat said in a statement, carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
“The GCC member states expressed deep concern over the Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement which contained fallacies that violate the established diplomatic norms, and constitute a blatant interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain and an encroachment on the independence of the Bahraini judiciary and national sovereignty, in violation of the charters of the Arab League and the UN as well as principles of good neighborliness,” the statement said.
The GCC denounced Iraqi statement as having bad 'repercussions on the stability of Bahrain and the region' as an ‘unconstructive approach that could harm GCC- Iraq ties, running contrary to efforts by the bloc to consolidate security and stability in the region.'
The GCC urged the Iraqi government to take firm and decisive measures to end what the Bahraini Interior Ministry repeatedly revealed that terrorist organizations take the Iraqi soil as a base for targeting security and stability of Bahrain and other GCC states.
The protest note called for an immediate and final halt to all forms of interference in the affairs of Bahrain or any other GCC state, under whatever pretext, from Iraqi official or non-official bodies.
