Home
Kurdish leader says his people will one day declare independence
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
The president of Kurdistan’s regional government told an audience in Washington on Wednesday that the Kurds will hold a referendum on independence from Iraq when hostilities surrounding the war against Islamic State extremists in the nation are resolved.
“I cannot say if it will be in the next year, or when, but certainly the independent Kurdistan is coming,” President Masoud Barzani said Wednesday morning during an appearance at the Atlantic Council after meeting with officials from the Obama administration.
“We want it to be not through violence, not through killing,” said Mr. Barzani, who is on his first visit to Washington since 2012. “We want it to be through peace and dialogue.”
He added that the reason Kurds have “delayed” holding a referendum on independence is because the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is on the front lines of the U.S.-backed war against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
“It will take place when the security situation is resolved,” Mr. Barzani said.
Lower-level KRG officials have made similar comments over the past year. But Mr. Barzani’s voice carries the most weight among Kurds in terms of their relationship to wider political landscape in Iraq and the nation’s federal government in Baghdad.
The topic of Kurdish independence has been a sensitive one for decades and speculation about it has only grown since Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have taken a lead role in ground combat against Islamic State fighters over the past year.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
The president of Kurdistan’s regional government told an audience in Washington on Wednesday that the Kurds will hold a referendum on independence from Iraq when hostilities surrounding the war against Islamic State extremists in the nation are resolved.
“I cannot say if it will be in the next year, or when, but certainly the independent Kurdistan is coming,” President Masoud Barzani said Wednesday morning during an appearance at the Atlantic Council after meeting with officials from the Obama administration.
“We want it to be not through violence, not through killing,” said Mr. Barzani, who is on his first visit to Washington since 2012. “We want it to be through peace and dialogue.”
He added that the reason Kurds have “delayed” holding a referendum on independence is because the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is on the front lines of the U.S.-backed war against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
“It will take place when the security situation is resolved,” Mr. Barzani said.
Lower-level KRG officials have made similar comments over the past year. But Mr. Barzani’s voice carries the most weight among Kurds in terms of their relationship to wider political landscape in Iraq and the nation’s federal government in Baghdad.
The topic of Kurdish independence has been a sensitive one for decades and speculation about it has only grown since Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have taken a lead role in ground combat against Islamic State fighters over the past year.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
