Masoud Barzani: Baghdad continues to break agreements with Erbil

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi government continues to break agreements as well as deny the rights of the people of Kurdistan, former Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani stated on Saturday.

In a statement to mark the 48th anniversary of the “March 11 Agreement” between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Barzani noted that Baghdad continues to marginalize and deny the rights of the Kurdish people.

“Today marks 48 years since the signing of the first agreement between the people of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq where the rights of the people of Kurdistan were recognized,” Barzani stated.

The former President added that “after 48 years, and after committing genocide against the people of Kurdistan, that agreement and many others, including the 2005 constitution, were violated by Baghdad.”

“After a history of atrocities [against the people of the Region], the violation of agreements continues,” he said.

Following several years of fighting between the Kurds—led by Mullah Mustafa Barzani—and the former Iraqi regime, both sides reached a peace accord known as the “March 11 Agreement” in 1970 that granted autonomy and some other rights to the Kurds in Iraq for the first time.

In 1975, the Iraqi government refused to recognize the autonomy agreement with the Kurds and signed a pact with Iran to halt the Kurdish liberation movement.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany