Iraqi Council session suspended after dispute

The Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Usama al-Nujayfi, was forced to postpone Thursday's session for an hour after the Turkmen Front accused the head of the Sadrist Movement of insulting the Turkmen of Iraq. Bahaa al-Araji denied the claim and accused them of "lying" for "partisan interests." During the hiatus, Turkmen Front MP Abbas al-Bayati held a press conference on parliamentary premises, in which he said that the Turkmen bloc wants "the Council of Representatives to perform its role of oversight by questioning ministers and would never cover up corruption." Al-Bayati accused al-Araji of insulting Turkmen by making false accusations against them, and added, "we demand that the Youth Minister, Jasim Mohammed Jaafar, is given the chance to prepare his paperwork and documents for a federal court lawsuit."  Al-Bayati also called on his fellow MP to "apologise to the bloc before the Council of Representatives, seeing as he insulted nationalism and not the minister." Turkmen MP, Arshad al-Salihi, reiterated the Front's support for parliamentary oversight over the executive branch and added that "using foul language" against one constituent element is unacceptable. In his press conference, al-Araji said, "I find it odd when a representative or a number of representatives lie to achieve gains at the expense of the other elements representing the Iraqi people. I did not denigrate any element constituting the Iraqi people and definitely not the Turkmen." He emphasised his denial by saying, "I did not say anything that could offend the Turkmen to merit an apology." He claimed that the accusations were "devoid of truth" and that the parliamentary bloc's actions stemmed from "partisan interests." Thursday's Council of Representatives' session took place with 246 MPs in attendance. Members were scheduled to question the Youth Minister, and vote on the General Pardon bill.