Kurdish leader, pressing for independence, promises to respect Christians’ rights

July 12, 2017

The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Masud Barzani, has promised that if Kurdistan wins independence, its government will respect the rights of Christians living in the Nineveh Plains region.

Barzani made his promise during a tour of Europe, where he is seeking support for Kurdish independence, saying that Europe should favor the move as a way to remedy “all the wrong things done against the Kurds” in the aftermath of World War I, when the region was attached to Iraq. Barzani has scheduled a referendum in Kurdistan as a first step toward independence from Iraq.

 

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Further information:

• Kurdish leader Barzani sponsors referendum on independence: we will respect self-determination for the Nineveh Plain (Fides)