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Barzani: Iraqi Kurds keeping their options open

In an interview with Al-Monitor, President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani speaks about the current crisis and doesn’t rule out the right to self-determination if unification efforts fail.
The President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani (C) visits Kirkuk June 26, 2014. Barzani visited Kirkuk on Thursday for the first time since forces from the autonomous region took full control of the city. Kurdish forces moved into bases deserted by the Iraqi army two weeks ago in Kirkuk, which lies just outside the formal boundary of the northern region and is a centre of Iraq's oil industry. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3VY11
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On July 8, before the publication of this interview, the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani issued an open letter to the Iraqi people. In the letter, he reviewed a series of crises between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad, which brought the option of self-determination to the forefront. Barzani allocated large parts of his letter to confirm that a unified Iraq requires joint action, a new administration and a new vision on how to manage the country in the future.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, President Barzani confirmed this concept. He pointed out that the crisis with Baghdad is a crisis of concepts, and stressed that the decision to declare independence, if adopted by the Kurdish people, will be based on an autonomous will. However, he indicated that freedom is not without a cost. Barzani said that following the last security collapse in Iraq, Kurdish politics are based on two courses of action. The first is working with the national forces to rebuild Iraq, and the second is exercising the right of self-determination if efforts to save Iraq fail.

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