Full Transcript: Prime Minister Masrour Barzani's Interview at the MEPS 2025 Forum

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - On the sidelines of the influential 6th Middle East Peace and Security Forum (MEPS 25), Prime Minister Masrour Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) sat down for a wide-ranging discussion with Ms. Amena Bakr, Head of Middle East & OPEC at Kpler Energy and a former award-winning Reuters journalist. The conversation delves into the critical issues facing the region, including the complex political landscape of Iraq following recent parliamentary elections, the delicate process of forming new federal and regional governments, the persistent challenges in the Erbil-Baghdad relationship, the KRG's strategic relations with neighboring countries and the situation in Syria.

Here is the full interview transcript:

Ms. Amena Bakr: Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to the Middle East Peace and Security Forum. It's truly an honor and a pleasure being with you. Thank you so much, Prime Minister Masroor Barzani. Thank you for joining us today.

Prime Minister: Well, thank you for having me.

Ms. Amena Bakr: this is my first time in Kurdistan, and being here has been such a positive experience. I can tell you it won't be my last time coming. But it's also a very powerful reminder for me about good governance and what good governance means in terms of peace and security in a region that's full of potential. So I think to that, Prime Minister, we owe you a lot of credit, and this recognition deserves recognition from everyone about your great governance in the region here. But at the same time, we know that any progress in our region remains really fragile. I mean, the cynics will tell you that it's even elusive. Let's just say there are complex challenges around that. And with that in mind, I want to kick off our conversation about the very complex relationship and power sharing that you have with Baghdad. Prime Minister, you've managed complex institutional, financial, and territorial issues with Baghdad. How would you characterize the current power sharing process?

Prime Minister: If there was a real power sharing, these things wouldn't be issues, would they?  So there is really not a real power sharing, but of course we are trying to organize our relationship and fix our relationship with the federal government based on the Constitution. And the Constitution clearly states how this relationship should be between both the federal government and the region.

These issues that you mentioned are still complex because every one of them was supposed to be implemented by an article in the Constitution. For instance, the disputed territories is still one of the main challenges between the federal government and Kurdistan. The hydrocarbon law is another issue that is a big challenge. And you're supposed to have the hydrocarbon law a long time ago, after the ratification of the Constitution. It shouldn't have taken so long. Still, the government in Baghdad relies on an outdated law that they inherited from the previous regime, and it's not applicable to our federal system. And of course, the budget issue is another area that needs to be resolved based on the Constitution. As a constitutional entity, Kurdistan should have its share of the budget from the federal government and not have a ministry at the federal level to interfere into the details of how the financial sector in Kurdistan is handled.

But at the beginning, you talked about the good governance. Good governance is easy when you're dedicated to your cause. When you look at people, and they become your main objective, when they are the ones that you need to serve, then it's easy.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Which brings me to the next question. You did so well during the elections. What was the reason for this outcome? Good governance is part of it, but what are the other reasons? 

Prime Minister: I believe in this election, people voted for services. My party has always been there to serve the people of Kurdistan on the cause of the Kurdish people, and the Kurdistanis, by the way, not just the Kurds, but everybody that lives in Kurdistan. And Kurdistan Democratic Party has been an umbrella for all of those who live in Kurdistan.

So there are several reasons. One is the historical struggle of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, that how truthful it was to the cause and the banner it carried, the coexistence and the trust that people have, different backgrounds, different ethnic and religious groups that they have in Kurdistan, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party because of its leadership. And I think lately, the services that the KDP-led government delivered to people, I was here and I saw the session this morning talking about some of the reforms and some of the services were delivered, like Runaki, which is the 24-hour electricity to people, and My Account, which is basically digitalizing our bank and financial institutions, building infrastructure, roads, and also investing in education and health sector, providing more services and cutting the routines and making people be more comfortable in running their daily duties and errands.

So I think that relationship that the government has managed to create, the trust that it created between people and the government, and being truthful to the agenda and the promises that we have given. So I think at the end, people realized that we didn't only promise, but we delivered. And I think we were rewarded for that.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Delivery is the most important, absolutely. That's what impacts the lives of people, and that's how they vote. From Kurdistan's elections, I want to talk a little bit about the elections that happened in Iraq. We heard yesterday from Prime Minister al-Sudani. But I'm eager to find out how you assess the recent Iraqi elections, and do you believe the process and the outcome would help strengthen political stability?

Prime Minister: Well, first of all, I think the elections were a big success. It was a big success to all of the Iraqis. The process and how it was conducted, it was a big success. But there is a big problem with the electoral law. The electoral law is not fair. Although we all have the results, and every party knows how many seats they won, first of all, it was a big turnout all over the country. We've always had large turnouts here in Kurdistan, but I think this time across the country, there was, relatively speaking, a large turnout. This was a success. But if we had a more fair electoral law, I think it would be, you know, the parliament would be more representative.

I'll just give you an example. You know, yesterday, I made a comment to Amberin Zaman, when she said that KDP is number two. I said, no, we are number one. With more than 1,111,000 votes, 1,100,000 votes, Kurdistan Democratic Party is the largest party today in Iraq. We only have coalitions, coalitions of several parties that have slightly more votes than us. But if you look at the number of seats that we have won, are not compatible to the votes that we've collected.

Just to be more precise, with more than 1,100,000 votes, we have 27 seats, I think. 25 has been ratified, I believe. But then you have the state of law with 728,000 seats, which is, you know, almost 400,000 votes less than us, but they have 29 seats. You have Sadikun with 680,000 seats, half of us, but they have about equal size of, you know, equal number of seats, 27 seats. So proportionately, this election wasn't very, it wasn't fair, it wasn't just, and it didn't give us the seats that we deserve. And we hope that, you know, the election or the electoral law can be changed for the next election so that everybody would be treated equally on the dialogue.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Prime Minister, in 2021, the KDP aligned with the coordination framework after Muqtada Sadri's withdrawal. As a new political coalition is taking shape, what factors will shape your position this time? And may I ask which candidates you will support?  

Prime Minister: Well, we respect all the candidates. It's not about personalities, really. It's more about the agenda and the relationship, the constitutional relationship between Baghdad and Erbil. In the last elections, we had certain ideas about how the future of the country should be and how the government should be formed. Even this time, we are focusing on the agenda and our conditions, if I may call conditions, is the implementation or the commitment to the implementation of the constitution. So any side that wants to partner with us or wants us to be a part of the government, our conditions are very clear. We want full implementation of the constitution without being subjective and choosing some articles and ignoring the others.

Ms. Amena Bakr: And if it falls short of that, what's the consequence?

Prime Minister:  Well, let's not be pessimistic. Let's be hopeful that we can achieve our objective.

Ms. Amena Bakr: With both new cabinets being expected in Baghdad and Erbil, what should the top priorities be? You already mentioned the constitution here. Where do you see areas of alignment and where do you see areas of friction?  

Prime Minister: The priorities should be serving people. It should be moving forward. It should be peace and stability. It should be the state of law, basically. The law should be above all. We cannot afford to continue living in a country where the law is constantly violated and disrespected. I think the biggest requirement today for the country is not the constitution in itself. The constitution is there, but the mechanism to implement the constitution is lacking. No one who violates the constitution is being held accountable. We need to make sure that those institutions are in place, that whoever violates the constitution is held accountable. I think that would be the way forward, and this is what we will try to do.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Prime Minister, can you clarify a little bit the status of the formation of the government here? Why is it taking so much time? What timeline can we expect? What's going on in that process?  

Prime Minister: Well, it's very unfortunate that after a year we still don't have a government in Kurdistan. I think everybody would testify to the will of us, my party, myself, that we wanted to have the government formed immediately after the elections, but we wanted to have an inclusive government. We approached all the parties that won the election or at least won some seats in the parliament to be a private government. Some of the parties chose to be the opposition. They didn't want to be a part of the government, and they're free, of course, and we respect their choice.

But then there was also the PUK, which is currently in the government generally. It was a part of the ninth cabinet, and we were hoping that together with PUK we can form the government much sooner. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. At the beginning, things were going very smoothly, and we had a very capable team negotiating the agenda of the government, which was more important, I think, than the positions of the government. It went well, and we accommodated the needs and basically what all sides wanted to have as a joint agenda for the government, and that went well.

When it came to positions of the government, that's when PUK, I think, were insisting on some very unreasonable positions. I think when you have elections, you need to respect the elections.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Can you elaborate a little bit? 

Prime Minister: What's the point of going to elections if you don't respect the results? Elections give you a winner and then give you maybe a lesser winner. I wouldn't say a loser, because I think in elections nobody loses. That's a very democratic process. But based on the size of each party, each group, you should respect the formation of the government has to be a reflection of the victory of each group. KDP was very flexible and very generous to even give more positions to the PUK than they deserve based on how many votes they won in the election. They insisted on more. We had instructions from the leadership that we can be even more flexible, which we were. We were given positions that, I think, they could never have based on the number of seats that they won in the election. And again, they didn't want to form the government.

Although they denied that there was a policy, it was clear that they didn't want to form the government until the Iraqi elections are held. Perhaps they had a miscalculation that KDP would do poorly in the Iraqi election. Or perhaps they thought maybe they would lose leverage of negotiating positions in Baghdad if they formed the government in Kurdistan. Whatever the reason is, I think they have to clarify. But we don't have the government until now.

Now, and of course, I must make this point that before these elections, we made it very clear that we are generous because we want to have a united Kurdish position before the Iraqi elections. That would give us more strength to negotiate the government in Baghdad. But if no government is formed before the elections, then the conditions are going to change. Today and the post-Iraqi elections, conditions have changed. So we are going to negotiate the formation of the government based on the new conditions.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Thank you. And just your expectation on the timeline again. I'm sorry to be kind of picking at this issue. What do you expect?

Prime Minister: I want to have the government formed as soon as possible. I want it before the end of this year. But can we do it? This remains to be seen.

Ms. Amena Bakr: I'm going to switch now and talk a little bit about the area that I cover personally, which is the oil and gas sector. And the Shihan Pipeline Agreement is something that we've been focusing on a lot. And it took two years to restart the oil exports through the pipeline. And the current agreement is considered to be somewhat temporary. So I want to ask you how sustainable do you think the deal is? 

Prime Minister: Well, the deal is temporary. So a more sustainable solution to this problem would be to have the hydrocarbon law. And until then, every deal we make is going to be a temporary deal. I hope that Baghdad realizes that by stopping the export of oil from Kurdistan, everybody lost. There were billions of dollars lost, mostly on the expense of Kurdistan, because we were never compensated for the losses. And our salaries were not paid. Our budget was not paid. And we didn't have the revenues to actually compensate for an unpaid budget. So there was no winner in stopping the oil export. In my view, it was a political decision to cut off the export of oil. I hope that Baghdad now realizes that the best way forward is to honor and respect even this temporary agreement to continue until we have the hydrocarbon law.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Is this a concern for you, Prime Minister? I mean, do you worry that Baghdad might stop the flow of oil again? Is this one of the top concerns? Or do you think Baghdad now realizes... 

Prime Minister: Well, it is a concern, because there was no reason for them to cut off the oil export to begin with. They did it once, so what's stopping them to do it again? We have no leverage to stop them from doing this. And we are concerned, but I hope that they won't do it. I hope that they realize that now that they're exporting our oil, they're collecting more money, because that money goes to the federal government. It doesn't come straight to us. And although they're collecting the revenues from the oil sale, and they're collecting the internal revenues from Kurdistan, they still delay the payment of salaries to us. So basically, they're not handing out any money to us. It's more like a business. They collect revenues from oil and also internal revenues, and then they give it back to us. But, you know, much later period, you know, with the delay. I hope Baghdad knows that now with the sale of oil, there is more revenue to the country. So I think it would be more logical and more reasonable for Baghdad to continue exporting the oil from Kurdistan.

Ms. Amena Bakr: There might be a slightly different angle to this, given that Iraq is part of OPEC. They have OPEC constraints, OPEC quotas. So my question is, is there any pressure from Baghdad to halt production here, limit production from Kurdistan to make up for its quota? 

Prime Minister: I think this was used as an excuse in the past that Kurdistan was producing over the quota that was set for Iraq. Well, the quota actually does not distinguish the export of oil from Kurdistan or the south of Iraq. They look at the overall production in the entire country. And Kurdistan has never produced more than its share, never. In fact, if you look at the percentage of Kurdistan, we are about 14%, based on the latest census that was conducted by the federal government. But let's assume even the 12.6% that everybody agreed on prior to the census. Kurdistan, according to 5 million barrels of oil, take 12% of that, 12.6%. How much of barrels would that be for the KRG? It would be more than 600,000, 700,000 barrels. Kurdistan was producing somewhere around 300,000, 350,000 barrels, 400,000 barrels at maximum. So it never actually surpassed the proportional, let's say, right of production in Kurdistan.

So why Kurdistan was overproducing? Why the rest of Iraq was not overproducing? If you look at what they were overproducing in the south. But it was easy, because it's always easy to blame the Kurds for everything that goes wrong. And that's why they blamed us. But if you look at the numbers, no. Kurdistan has never overproduced.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Let's talk about the kind of potential that Kurdistan has in terms of its production. You've had production shutdowns here, some security incidents, which is raising just generally investor concern. So how significant do you think this impact is? And when do you expect production to recover to this 500,000 barrels per day level?

Prime Minister: First of all, there were two reasons for the production to go down. One was the decision, the political decision that was made by Baghdad to stop the export. Many of the smaller companies or smaller wells that were not producing enough reached a stage that it wasn't possible for them to produce because it didn't cover the cost of production. So they had to shut down. Out of 14 wells, we only were left with 9, so 5 of them completely shut down. To reactivate those, it takes time. And also for those companies that were producing oil in those wells, they decreased their production to a level where they could maintain the operation. And most of the oil that they produced went back to the cost of production to the companies. A very small part of that came to the KRG.

In order to reach back to that level, it takes time. And it requires more investment from the oil companies to basically increase their production. So that was one of the reasons. But the other reason also was the security attack, you know, the issues and the drone attacks against several oil fields. Unfortunately, those people were known, and the names and the name of groups were clearly communicated with the federal government. Some people were even arrested. But then they were released on bail, and they didn't face the consequences that they were supposed to. And that basically shouldn't happen in a country where the law should be above all.

So it was a concern. It was a concern to these investors. All of the oil companies that are operating in Kurdistan are foreign companies. And they care about their business. They care about their reputation. They care about their personnel. So do we. And when your life comes in danger, of course you would be concerned. So I hope that, you know, these are some of the problems that we had. Now I hope that we have reached a point where we have a better understanding with Baghdad that these attacks will not be repeated. Otherwise, I hope that both Baghdad and the international community would not tolerate these reckless acts of terrorism, I would call, to terrorize people and to target civilian infrastructures.

Ms. Amena Bakr: I want to come to gas right now. Yesterday we heard from Prime Minister Soudani that Iraq has the aim to not import gas anymore from Iran or reduce its dependency. You have KM-250 that's begun. Baghdad agreed to take 100 million cubic feet per day for power supplies from Kirkuk. So what's really stalling or delaying the implementation between providing Iraq with gas? 

Prime Minister: Let me be clear. I think Iraq is a little late in capturing the flared gas or investing in gas production in all of the countries. In Kurdistan, we started many, many years ago, and now we're producing gas in some fields inside Kurdistan, and the contracts are with the KRG. The contracts are with the KRG. Every contract of oil and gas companies with the KRG are valid, and although it was taken to the court, but the court, even in Baghdad three times, it was in favor. It ruled in favor of Kurdistan. So for as long as Kurdistan has these contracts, Kurdistan makes decisions on how to utilize the production of gas and oil.

And based on the contract, Kurdistan still needs the gas, and we can take as much gas as we want because we need it for electricity, we need it for daily business. There are many areas that we need gas for. And for the rest of the country, we have already used some of this gas, turned it into electricity, and given the electricity back to the government. So the power stations in Kurdistan are providing hundreds of megawatts. If the Minister of Electricity is here, maybe he can give me the right number, but anyway, he's over there. So we already are giving electricity back to the country, to the rest of Iraq. With increasing gas production in Kurdistan, we can definitely turn that gas into electricity and give electricity back to the rest of Iraq.

Ms. Amena Bakr: And this will need, of course, again, an agreement on the price and so on. I mean, how do you aim to reach that kind of framework?

Prime Minister:  Yes, of course. I mean, these discussions are going on between our Ministry of Electricity and the Ministry of Electricity at the federal level. Of course, I think there was even a discounted price offered to Baghdad. Well, I don't know the numbers, so don't quote me on this. But there was a discounted offer compared to what they were importing from the neighboring countries.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Your previous term saw notable economic progress, as we've discussed. I want to delve into exactly what projects and initiatives that you plan to prioritize in the coming term? 

Prime Minister: Some of the projects we've started we haven't finished. So definitely we're going to finish these projects. You know, digitalization of our services, digitalization of our economic and financial institutions. These will continue, whether it's the Bernanke, it's my account, this will continue. But these were the infrastructure we needed for additional reforms that we have to do. For instance, collection of money. You know, for any household individual who wants to pay, sometimes they have difficulty going and standing in queues. And even those who are willing to pay, it's not easy to pay, because maybe there is nobody to go and collect money from, for instance, the electricity.

So the next step would be to implement a project we call it e-Psula, which means electronic payment. The electronic payment will give the chance to every individual to pay at the comfort of their home whenever they want. But in order to do that, they have to have an account. So that's why we were focusing on having my account to provide bank accounts to every individual in the country. When they have that, then they can use the services that the bank offers. One of them would be the payments. That is facilitating for the population, for the people. But it's also, it gives them a much clearer, let's say, vision to the government. They know exactly, immediately, instantly, they know how much money is collected. So that's a major project for the future.

And also, you know, taxing is something that I need to clarify. We never impose taxes. That's something that the parliament does. So the government, sometimes I think the opposition has always misused this word and they use it against us. We never impose taxes as the government. We only implement the decisions that are, or the laws that are passed by the parliament. So making sure that the taxes are collected the way that they're supposed to, because you know, they were ignored. So that's another area that the government needs to do. And for every individual here in Kurdistan, when they try to look at the developed world, and they're so, you know, enthusiastic and, you know, they want to be like them, then that developed world comes with a price. That's the responsibility. The responsibility of civilians. So if you want to be developed, you have to be a responsible civilian. This is something that we need to do as hosts.

Ms. Amena Bakr: It does come with a lot of responsibility, which is learned, I think, over time. Prime Minister, despite a lot of industrial growth that's happening, youth unemployment remains high. What is your plan to create sustainable employment opportunities for the young people here in Kurdistan? 

Prime Minister: Well, there are two sources of employment for the young people. One is the public sector, one is the private sector. Unfortunately, since 2013, by a political decision, Baghdad has not allowed Kurdistan to employ and hire anyone in Kurdistan. So since 2013, until now, everybody in Kurdistan is on contract. New employees are on contract. They're not full employees. This needs to change. And I hope in this election, that was a part of our campaign, actually. When I was campaigning, I said that our representatives must go to Baghdad and fight for our equal rights. When Baghdad employs people in other parts of the country, Kurdistan should also be able to take its share in the public sector. So we need to create that opportunity for our younger generation, those who the government needs and those who are willing to work for the public sector, to have that opportunity. It doesn't make sense that after 12 years, we are unable to hire anyone. And of course, there are many people who are aging, who are retiring. Some of them are no longer with us. How are you going to replace this workforce? You need to hire. You need to be able to hire these people.

So that's one thing. That's the public sector. But that's never going to be enough. We need to really invest in the private sector, and we have. Now we have a very vibrant private sector here in Kurdistan. And to be very frank with you, I would like to thank the private sector in Kurdistan. I would like to thank them for helping us, doing all these projects that we see happening today in Kurdistan, all these roads, all these projects. The private sector is doing it. It's not funded by the government budget because we have never received budget for investment. Never. In the last few years, we haven't received budget for investment from the federal government. So it's all private sector. With the private sector, it comes with opportunities for the younger generation to go and work in those private sectors. So what we can do is to help the private sector grow. With the growing private sector, job opportunities will grow.

But there are a few things that need to be changed. One of them is the law of retirement and pension. In the public sector, a lot of people want to work for the government even for a much lesser salary than going into the private sector because they have a guaranteed future even when they retire. In the private sector, we have to apply the same law. So anyone that is working in the private sector will have a guaranteed future and their pensions are going to be respected.

Besides this, We also have projects. For instance, I heard this morning a project we call the Bloom. The Bloom is basically a project that the government supports the youth to borrow money from the bank. It's different than how it was done in the past. The government was given money. Billions of dollars were given to civilians. Most of it was not recovered. But with the right banking system, with the right financial institutions in place that we try to build, the banks are able to lend money to the youth and they can use that money whether they want to purchase a house, a car, they want to establish a business, and then they can pay the bank later on. The government can be a regulator. It could be a guarantor. And that's what we are trying to do. So with the Bloom, we are trying to help connect the banks with the young people. And the government sometimes actually gives the money through the banks. Through the banks, the government gives money. We have an experience of 25 businesses of young businesses, young entrepreneurs. Some of them had small businesses. They wanted to grow their business. They wanted some help. So we gave them help. Or some wanted, they had ideas and they wanted to build their own businesses but they had no funds. The government helped them. And then they were very successful. They are not going to just hand over money to anyone. They have to meet the criteria and also prove that they can do what they are claiming. These are also opportunities that the young people can take advantage of and can use. With that good relationship between the people and the government, there is potential. There is huge opportunities. And we will continue to support the youth through these programs.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Prime Minister, as you rightfully said that the private sector is booming here and it's growing. But how do you balance between the two factors of encouraging investment but at the same time having stronger labor protection and regulation? 

Prime Minister: Well, the law. The law is applicable to all and it's about all. The government is here, like I said, to be a regulator, protect the rights of the investor but also protect the rights of people who are working in the private sector. So it's a very clearly defined relationship.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Prime Minister, a big topic that was discussed throughout the forum and maybe in all the sessions that I attended was Syria. The kind of wider regional security of the Middle East. Right now negotiations between Damascus and the SDF are continuing. But progress appears to be stalled. So I'm interested to find out your view. What's holding this back? And what would your advice be to General Abdi at this stage?  

Prime Minister: Well, obviously Syria is a different country. We can only share views. We cannot dictate. We cannot tell them what to do. I'm sure they have smart people to figure out what's the best system for them. But in my view, a country like Syria with so many different communities and ethnicities and religious diversity in the country, there has to be an inclusive government. There has to be a constitution that accommodates the needs of everyone and gives guarantees for equal citizenship to everyone. Dictating an idea by one community will never bring you peace and stability. So I hope they will come up with a constitution that everyone's heard, the opinion of everyone is taken into account, and everybody feels a sense of belonging. They would not be excluded. They would not be, let's say, sidelined. And in Syria's case, we know that you have the Kurds in the north, you have the Alawites in the western coast, and then you have the Druze in the south, and then you have so many different Sunnis in between, of different, let's say, classes and ideologies. So it would be wise for anyone in the government in Syria to have a comprehensive and inclusive talk with all sides without coming up with an idea and try to impose it. That's not going to work. It's never worked and it will never work. But having a right dialogue, I think, with all of them, there is a chance. There is a chance.

I think there is one principle that I may point out. It's important that people should learn that we complement each other. We can, together, build more than competing with each other and trying to break each other. For so many years, this region, the Middle East, tried to break each other. And look where we are. Let's for once, try to help each other and complement each other. And let's see how it will be. I think that would be the best advice to our friends in Syria.

Ms. Amena Bakr: Thank you for that. As we're nearing the end of our session, unfortunately, I hope we get to have a lot more time with you next time. I want to get a final reflection. I want you to leave the audience here with one message of what the future in Kurdistan looks like? 

Prime Minister: Before I come to this last question, let me add one more point on Syria. I was very pleased to host both Kurdish factions from Kurdish National Council (KNCS) and also the Syria Democratic forces (SDF) this morning. This is what this forum is about. We're not only talking, but we're acting upon it. We're trying to build peace by action. So, I think if everybody tries to do the same, don't only talk, but act. Try to bring everybody together. I think that would be the key, and I believe it's the secret to success.

Lastly, to answer your last question, I think, again, we need to care more about people, about the national interests, rather than our political or personal interests. When we try to respect each other, when we try to respect every nationality, every ethnicity, every religion, and believe in coexistence, and believe that we can all together be stronger, and build faster, we can. The first change has to come in mind. Once you believe in it, you find a way how to do it. But I think the biggest change has to come from within. We are on the rise. Kurdistan is on the right track. We are moving forward, and no one can stop us.