‘Will of people prevailed,’ referendum champion Masoud Barzani writes on anniversary
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum in 2017 was the success of the people’s will, President Masoud Barzani, who championed the national efforts for independence six years ago, wrote on the polls anniversary on Monday.
On Sept. 25, 2017, the Kurdistan Region’s residents, including those from the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad, headed to the poll centers, where they overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence, according to the electoral authority's tally at the time.
“Today marks the anniversary of the day on which the will of the people prevailed,” President Masoud Barzani wrote.
Today marks the anniversary of the day on which the will of the people prevailed.
— Masoud Barzani (@masoud_barzani) September 25, 2023
Serving as Kurdistan Region president at the time, Barzani embarked on a national campaign to push for the referendum, which he had described as a democratic means for the nation to achieve its long-lasting aspiration for independence.
He had held widespread and region-wide rallies in order to garner support for the independence efforts.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani shared similar sentiments on Monday about the referendum.
“Today symbolizes the triumph of a nation’s will,” Barzani wrote in a post on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
Read More: Referendum day symbolizes ‘triumph of a nation’s will’, says PM Barzani
The referendum turnout was 72 percent, according to Kurdish election body figures. 400 international electoral observers monitored the process.
In addition to the Kurdish-majority population, a considerable number of Arabs, Turkmen, Assyrians, and other ethnic and religious components took part in the referendum, both in the Kurdistan Region as well as in the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil.
The polls came as the three-year-long fight against ISIS was waning and when Kurdish leadership became frustrated with Iraq's failure as a cohesive entity.
The Peshmerga forces, under the leadership of former President of Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani and international support from Coalition forces, were able to defeat the terror group and recaptured much of the territories lost to the extremists when Iraqi soldiers withdrew in 2014.
The Kurdish leadership has publicly declared that the referendum was not intended to lead to an immediate succession from Iraq, rather, it was a democratic means to express the nation’s will.
The assurances did not stop the Iraqi authorities from launching a widespread military offensive on the areas contested by both governments in mid-October 2017, as a result of which a significant number of Kurdish people were displaced in those areas. Some of the civilian properties belonging to Kurdish people were set ablaze by the forces, including Iranian-backed Iraqi militias.