KRG is ripe for independence, says Barzani

“God willing, this year a referendum will be held,” Barzani said during an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Züricher Zeitung, rudaw.net said May 24.

Barzani added that “Kurdistan [KRG] is ripe for independence.”

Barzani stressed the rights of individual nations, noting that nations have to be consulted whether they want to live within borders or separate.

“No resolution can be imposed and any new resolution now has to be made through a referendum,” which is a gesture of democracy, Barzani said. “Each nation has its own natural borders, and those borders that have been drawn through the use of force should not be maintained anymore.”

Barzani also talked about the Sykes-Picot agreement, which marked its centennial anniversary last week. 

“The strong forces drew the borders, but now they are essentially destroyed and the time has come that this current reality has to be admitted and accepted,” Barzani said.

The Sykes-Picot agreement between Britain and France of 1916 did not actually draw the boundaries of the region, but it did seek to carve out spheres of influence from the ruins of the crumbling Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Concerning the issue of a possible unification of the Kurdish population in the region, which live in parts of Iraq’s neighboring countries including Syria, Iran and Turkey, Barzani said a nation of 40 million to 50 million people must have its own state.

“Undoubtedly, we welcome the fact that our 40 million-50 million nation has to have a state of its own, but we must also consider the fact that we are divided into four parts. And each part has its own situation and each should find a solution with its central governments,” he said.