President Barzani: People can’t be forced together

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Boundaries drawn by force should no longer be respected, said Kurdistan Region President on Wednesday.

The President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani calls on redrawing the Middle East borders and states that Sykes-Picot agreement was the mistake of the century.

“This Sykes-Picot agreement may have been good at the time. But it’s clear that it was a mistake, the mistake of the century,” Barzani told an American magazine, The Nation. “The borders were drawn by hand in the name of the great powers. But in practice, these borders no longer exist today. It’s time that others recognize that, and accept this reality,” he added.

The 100-year Sykes-Picot agreement was created as a secret convention during World War I and signed on May 16, 1916, between the superpowers, including Great Britain and France with the assent of imperial Russia, for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.

Kurds have been one of the primary victims of the agreement as what is known as the Greater Kurdistan has been divided between four countries: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The leadership of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has called for an independence referendum that aims to take place by the end of 2016.

“Every people should have its natural borders…Borders drawn by force should no longer apply,” Barzani continued. “People cannot be forced together. No matter how long one tries, it will fail in the end.”

Recently, Barzani released a statement on the anniversary of Sykes-Picot agreement and stated that Kurdish share in Iraq since the establishment of the country was no more than damage and destruction.

“The share of the Kurdish people in this partnership [with Iraq] has been the murder and deportation of 12,000 young Faili Kurds, the murder of 8,000 Barzanis, the murder and disappearance of 182,000 Kurds in Garmiyan area and elsewhere, the chemical bombardment of Halabja, the destruction of 4,500 Kurdish villages, the Arabization of Kurdish areas, and countless other injustices,” read the statement.

Barzani called on a serious dialogue between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Federal Government of Iraq to reach a new solution.

“If partnership cannot be achieved, let us be brothers and good neighbors,” he concluded.

Reporting by Mewan Dolamari
Editing by Ava Homa