Kouchner: It's time for an independent Kurdistan

[Anthea]

NRT

Kouchner: It's time for an independent Kurdistan

The time has come for an independent Kurdish state, despite the current political and economic climate in the region, a former French government official said in an exclusive interview with NRT.

Speaking to NRT correspondent Halgurd Samad in Paris, former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said while Kurdistan is close to becoming a state, political parties and the four parts of Greater Kurdistan must end disputes.

“Kurdistan will gain independence, as officials discuss plans for a referendum inside the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, but it will be a difficult goal to achieve at this time,” he said.

Kouchner praised the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for embracing democracy, but added that the region has more to do.

France supported the creation of a no-fly zone in northern Iraq in 1991 that helped form what is now the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, and has had close relations with the region.

“The Kurds are nearly 45 million people and still have no state,” the former statesman said. “It was a very big mistake at the beginning of the 20th century that Turkey and other nations in the region gained their own countries, except for the Kurds.”

Kouchner has developed a reputation as being a ‘friend of the Kurds,’ and praised Kurdish efforts against the Islamic State inside Iraq and northern Syria, where YPG forces have dislodged militants from key areas.

“Kurdish forces in Syria are intimidating, to the point that the Turkish army moved its forces to the Syrian border,” he said, noting the force’s advancements. Kouchner however also criticized the PKK-affiliated fighters waging a war in Turkey’s southeast against the military there.

http://www.nrttv.com/en/Details.aspx?Jimare=5726