The President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Rashid, affirmed today, Saturday, that citizens have the right to express their anger and denunciation of any attack or violation of their beliefs, provided that this does not cause harm to our state and our people.

In a statement, he said, “While we condemn the vicious attacks on the Holy Qur’an and provoking the feelings of Muslims, we call on international organizations and Western governments to stop incitement and hate practices, whatever their pretexts.”

He called, “our citizens, political forces, and religious and social actors to be careful and not be drawn into the plot of sedition that is being carried out by violent and hateful personalities and parties who live in Western countries and exploit their laws to implement their suspicious aims against Iraq and Iraqis.”

The President of the Republic added, “The sequence of events indicates the existence of an intention aims to provoke the Iraqis exclusively and showing our country as an unsafe country for foreign missions and pushing for diplomatic measures that will harm the Iraqis inside and outside the country who were pushed by circumstances to emigrate and seek refuge in countries that are witnessing provocative actions today.”

He pointed out that “citizens and political forces in Iraq have the right to express their anger and denunciation of any attack or violation of their beliefs, provided that this does not cause harm to our country and our people and deprives our citizens abroad of diplomatic services and communication with their motherland.”

He continued, “I call on all my Iraqi sons and brothers to miss the opportunity for the malicious and opportunists who create crises abroad, who want to distort the image of a secure and stable Iraq, damage its international reputation, deprive it of cooperation with other countries, and adhere to peaceful and legal ways in expressing their positions.”

Source: National Iraqi News Agency