Masoud Barzani, Muthana province delegates call for peace, harmony among Iraqi factions

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Delegates from Iraq’s Muthanna province headed by Governor Ahmed Menfi met with a senior Kurdish leader in Erbil to discuss people’s living conditions in central and southern Iraqi provinces as well as historical relations between Iraqis and the people of the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

The delegation, which included several Muthanna Provincial Council members, met with Masoud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Region's leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the former regional president.

The delegates stressed “the historical relations between the people of Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, and expressed their appreciation for the sacrifices of the people of Kurdistan in the struggle against dictatorship [of Saddam Hussein] and the war against terrorism,” a statement Barzani’s office issued read.

Menfi and his accompanied delegates highly praised Barzani’s efforts in confronting a dictatorship rule in Iraq, establishing democratic principles, and coexistence in the country.

Barzani currently holds no governmental post but continues to remain an important Kurdish political figure in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

During the meeting, they discussed the living conditions of Iraqi citizens, especially in Muthanna province and the other areas in central and southern Iraq, “stressing the need to use the Kurdistan Region as an example and transfer its experiences to their province.”

Both sides also discussed the recent developments in Iraq and stressed the need to implement the Iraqi Constitution to resolve the disputes.

“Barzani described the relations between the Kurdistan Region and Muthanna province, noting that after the process of liberating Iraq, had the constitution been implemented as a basis for solving the problems, the situation in Iraq would have been better than now.”

The KDP leader underlined the need to strengthen relations between the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq.

In addition to a reference to the political disputes in Iraq, Barzani reiterated his assertion that political differences should not facilitate hatred among nationalities.

“We must deepen the peace and harmony among the Iraqi factions,” he added.

Regarding the fate of Kurdish victims of the Anfal genocide by Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, Barzani called for more stringent efforts to find mass graves and transfer the remains of the Kurdish martyrs to their homeland.

Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were executed during a systematic attempt to exterminate the Kurdish population in Iraq during the Anfal operations in the late 1980s. Some of the Kurdish mass graves had already been found in Iraq’s Muthanna province.

About 182,000 Kurdish people were killed during the Anfal campaigns.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany