ERBIL — Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), on Sunday saluted those who did not give in to pressures during the 2017’s Kurdistan Independence Referendum.
“Today is a historic day. I have nothing to say except that I salute and show respect to those who did not bow down,” the Kurdish leader said while attending the Duhok Writers’ Union Festival which coincided with the fifth anniversary of the referendum.
“The history of our people is filled with honor and and glory; but it also is filled with pain and sorrow,” President Barzani stated, noting that the enemies of Kurdistan seek to break the will of the Kurds, and that must be resisted.
“If we let our will to be broken, then we will lose respect and dignity, and we will lose all the achievements that we have so far made.”
President Barzani also urged the writers attending the festival to promote the Kurdish culture, with the main focus being put on cultivating the culture of peaceful coexistence between different religious and ethnic communities of Kurdistan.
He also noted that Kurdish writers are today’s warriors who are required to defend the rights of the Kurds “the way Peshmerga forced defended it in the past.”
“Don’t look down upon anyone; but also don’t feel inferior to anyone,” President Barzani added.
Earlier the day, President Barzani marked the fifth anniversary of the Kurdistan independence referendum with an Arabic poem he published on Twitter, reading:
“If the people ever wanted life,
“Destiny must respond,
“And the night must be cleared,
“The constraint must be broken,
“And who seeks not to climb mountains,
“He lives forever in the pits.”