Masrour Barzani: New war in Iraq will be on finally implementing Constitution

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Masrour Barzani, a member of the Political Bureau of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), says a new war is coming as the Iraqi elections approach: the war on finally implementing the Constitution.

Iraq is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on May 12, including in the provinces of the Kurdistan Region. The polls will be the fourth in the country since the fall of the former dictatorship rule of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

“The next war will be the war on the implementation of the provisions of the Iraqi Constitution and the realizations of the rights of the people of Kurdistan,” Barzani addressed a crowd during an elections campaign rally for the KDP on Saturday.

Senior Kurdish leaders have accused the central government in Baghdad of marginalizing the people of Kurdistan and deliberately ignoring the constitutional provisions that would guarantee their rights.

Barzani likened the upcoming elections to the Kurdistan Region’s Sep. 25 independence referendum, describing the May 12 vote as “a challenge” for Kurds.

He reminded that the referendum “won overwhelming support for independence” and did not fail as “no one can erase the Kurds’ right to self-determination.”

Barzani also recalled the events of Oct. 16 where Peshmerga troops were forced to withdraw from Kirkuk and other disputed territories following a military advance by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia-dominated militias.

Baghdad responded negatively to the Sep. 25 plebiscite, imposing several punitive measures against the Kurdistan Region including an international flight ban and the use of military force to regain control of contested areas between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Barzani urged those in attendance to vote for the party that has protected “the dignity of the people of Kurdistan and has strived with all its energy to collect their rights” in the upcoming elections.

The Iraqi elections will be the second since the United States’ withdrawal from the country in 2011 and the fourth since 2003.