The Iraqi Kurdish President Monday said the Kurdish region in Iraq would seek formal independence from the rest of Iraq.
“The Time is here for the Kurdistan people to determine their future and the decision of the people is what we are going to uphold,” said Massoud Barzani in an exclusive interview to CNN.
Barzani added that he would argue the case for an independent Kurdistan to the US Secretary of State, who is due to visit Erbil on Tuesday.
Explaining the need for an independent Kurdistan he said:
Commenting on relations with the US he said:
“The Time is here for the Kurdistan people to determine their future and the decision of the people is what we are going to uphold,” said Massoud Barzani in an exclusive interview to CNN.
Barzani added that he would argue the case for an independent Kurdistan to the US Secretary of State, who is due to visit Erbil on Tuesday.
Explaining the need for an independent Kurdistan he said:
“Iraq is obviously falling apart. And it’s obvious that the federal or central government has lost control over everything. Everything is collapsing – the army, the troops, the police. We did not cause the collapse of Iraq. It is others who did. And we cannot remain hostages for the unknown."
“Now we are living [in] a new Iraq, which is different completely from the Iraq that we always knew, the Iraq that we lived in ten days or two weeks ago.”
“After the recent events in Iraq, it has been proved that the Kurdish people should seize the opportunity now – the Kurdistan people should now determine their future.”
Commenting on relations with the US he said:
“The United States has been a true friend and we Kurds have shown that we deserve that friendship.”
“The success of the region of Kurdistan was the only success that resulted from American policies.”
“And the United States has given opportunity to all Iraqis to build a modern, democratic state; pluralistic state; federal state. But, unfortunately, the others were not able to seize the same opportunity.”