ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish right to self-determination and independence will not be achieved through violence, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani said in published comments.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP), two weeks after a deadly suicide bombing in Erbil, Barzani also said that the Kurdistan Region is ready to strike at terrorists anywhere, but will not be drawn into the civil war in neighboring Syria.
It is “a natural right for there to be a state for the Kurdish people, but this will not be achieved by violence, and must be done in a natural way,” Barzani said.
Since 1992, Iraq’s Kurds have exercised self-rule in their three-province Kurdistan Region, building it into a calm and economically vibrant enclave since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Barzani and his Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been at pains to have the country’s bickering Kurdish groups give up their differences and work toward self-rule on the Kurdistan Region model.
The KRG will “not hesitate in directing strikes (against) the terrorist criminals in any place,” Barzani told AFP, responding to a question about the possibility of Kurdish military action against terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
But he emphasized the importance of not being drawn into the conflict in Syria. He stressed that Syrian Kurdish groups also must maintain neutrality by keeping distant from all parties in the conflict.
Barzani’s comments follow a September 29 suicide attack on the Erbil headquarters of the Asayish intelligence service. The assault, in which seven attackers and six guards were killed and dozens wounded, was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The al-Qaeda affiliate said the attack was in response to Barzani’s alleged support for Iraq’s Shiite-led central government in Baghdad, and a vow for military intervention in Syria to protect the country’s Kurds from attacks by extremist Islamic groups linked to al-Qaeda.
Barzani admitted that some Syrian Kurds had received military training in the Kurdistan Region, but not with the intention of a full-blown war.
“A number of young men were trained, but truly not with the intention of entering the war,” he said.
Since April, Syrian Kurds have clashed with jihadi groups fighting in the bloody civil war, in which more than 100,000 people have died so far.
Comments
0 0 Alan | 3 hours ago
Barzani says no violence, because Kurds never used violence, they just use self defense to defend their land and people like Barzani did against Iraq.
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0 0 Hewler | 3 hours ago
I hope Barzani will annex Kerkuk soon and will declere independence. South Kurdistan have the best chance to get its independence and that would also motivate Kurds in other parts of Kurdistan to fight for their Independence.
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0 0 Atheist | 3 hours ago
Does the president imply that we should send bouquet of flowers to Ali Khamenei, Bashar Assad and Tayyip Erdogan and ask them to kindly grant us our god-given rights that they took away by the use of brute force? Does he imply that we should seat back and let Arab terrorists take over Rojava and impose whatever they wish to impose on us? Mr. President, we all know violence is terrible. But we live in a violent neighborhood and we are attacked from all sides. Self defense is a legitimate right. If we are threatened with violence we have no choice but to respond with violence. I can assure you that none of the occupiers of Kurdistan will let us attain our freedom peacefully. I do hope that you understand this!
