Masoud Barzani launches personal website, three months after resignation

Former President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani launched his personal website on Saturday, three months after his resignation and accompanying announcement that he would not extend his presidential term.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - Former President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani launched his personal website on Saturday, three months after his resignation and accompanying announcement that he would not extend his presidential term.

"My personal website is launched, statements, news, and updates will be posted here and on the website: https://www.masoudbarzani.krd/ku/index" Barzani tweeted on his personal Twitter account.

He has been the President of the Kurdistan Region from 2005 until 2017. At the end of October 2017, he rejected the notion of extending his presidential term, as he had done in earlier years.

Barzani has been the leader of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, following the death of his father Mullah Mustafa Barzani, a giant in the historic struggle for a Kurdish nation to many.

As a member of the Peshmerga, a Kurdish term meaning "Those who face death," Masoud Barzani has taken part in campaigns against former Iraqi regimes in the mountains of Northern Iraq. He has repeatedly expressed his pride at serving in such a capacity,  and stated that he will continue to remain as part of the Peshmerga. 

Barzani was the driving force behind holding the historic referendum on independence in the Kurdistan Region on Sep. 25, 2017, which saw an overwhelming majority favoring statehood.

Since his resignation in November, Barzani officially holds no governmental post, but remains the leader of the KDP, the largest and most influential party in the Kurdistan Region.

Editing by John J. Catherine