Arabs in disputed territories call to join Kurdistan, support independence

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Sunni leaders from the disputed territories on Friday asked to include their towns in the Kurdistan Region while expressing their support for an independent Kurdish state.

Ali Rekan, the Sheikh and leader of the al-Shammar clan in the town of Rabia, west of Mosul, held a meeting with group leaders advising them to support the Kurdistan Region for protecting them from the Islamic State (IS).

“The clan of al-Shammar asks to join our areas with the Kurdistan Region administration because it was Peshmerga who protected our honor and land from [IS],” Rekan told Kurdistan24.

He praised the role of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in liberating their territories and defeating the threat of IS.

“Thousands of Peshmerga soldiers have sacrificed their lives in freeing our areas.” the Shiekh continued. “Therefore, we must be sincere to them.”

Rekani noted that the federal government of Iraq had been ignorant in liberating and reconstructing their territories.

“Now, we have decided to be part of the Kurdistan Region, and we support Kurdish independence. We will never compromise on our decision,” the clan leader emphasized.

In June 2014, IS occupied Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, and expanded in the entire Province of Nineveh.

Thousands of people in the province were obliged to escape to the Region searching for a safe heaven.

Moreover, Ahmed Erdan, a member of al-Shammar Council, present during the meeting, told Kurdistan24 that when the clan makes a decision, they follow through.

“We have hope in this decision and will not regret it,” he said.

Idris Haji, a Kurdish citizen, related the decision to the good friendship and coexistence between the Kurds and Arabs.

Haji said that after the Arabs’ displacement from Mosul to Kurdistan, they witnessed the warm welcoming and hospitality of the Kurdish people.

Additionally, Arabs in the province of Kirkuk also believe that their rights would be secured if their areas became part of the Kurdistan Region.

“We as the Arabs of Khurmatu town [in Kirkuk] are very comfortable with Kurds, and we won’t stand against Kurdish statehood because we know them well, having lived with them for decades,” said Mohamad Salim, an Arab resident.

Sheikh Saadoon Fandi, a member of the Iraqi Arab Republic’s Council and one of the prominent Sunni persons in Kirkuk, told Kurdistan24 that they support Kurdish independence.

“We support Kurdistan as an independent state, but there should be a strategic agreement between the Kurds and Arabs to secure our rights because our rights have now been violated by the federal government of Iraq,” Fandi explained.

The Kurdistan Region plans to hold a referendum regarding independence by the end of 2016.

Earlier this year, the President of Kurdistan Masoud Barzani had said that “it is the right of the people in the Kurdistan Region to decide on their future.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
(Aditional reporting by Zardasht Hamid and Hemin Dallo)