Kurdistan President says independence will be through dialogue

Kurdistan’s President Masoud Barzani called the Iraqi government Saturday to respect the will of Kurdish people, denying any responsibility for the challenges that faced the Iraqi people. He added that the Iraqi government and parties should bear their responsibilities to overcome the current challenges.
The statement came during the meeting between Barzani and a delegation from Two Rivers Dialogue Center to discuss the future relations between Iraq and Kurdistan region. The Kurdish leader stressed that Iraq was built on the basis of partnership between Arabs and Kurds, saying that the results of this partnership are the demolition of 4500 villages, and the killing of 182 thousand persons.
He added, “Despite all such violations, the Kurdish people have not turned to use the violence against the Iraqi government. They did not turn to retaliation against the government in their uprising in 1991.” He stressed that he exerted a lot of efforts to support the Iraqi state after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.
He blamed the Iraqi government for adopting approach violating the principles of the constitution, saying that they turned to deepen the sectarianism. He added that they also intensified their siege on Peshmerga forces. He added that the independence of Kurdistan will be achieved without violence, saying that the process will be conducted in the framework of dialogue with the different Iraqi parties.
The desire to keep the united Iraq is there, but the reality is that today Iraq is already divided by unsolvable problems,” Barzani said when asked whether Iraq will come out of the war against ISIS as a unified state. “Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting for 1400 years and we Kurds are the victims of this war. We have to find a new formula of coexistence."
 Barzani said that “too many massacres have occurred, leaving no room for reconciliation,” with a divided Iraq along the sectarian lines of Sunnis and Shiites, as he commented on the prospect of an independent Kurdistan, saying that the Kurds had tried to reconcile with the rest of the country after the fall of Saddam in 2003, but it failed because of the sectarian war between the two sects that has been going on for 1400 years.
 "The independence of Kurdistan would create an area of ​​stability in this region. We have already seen too much blood and injustice,” Barzani said, noting that an independent Kurdistan will be “based on the rule of law, respect for democratic rules, coexistence between different identities, and a multiparty system.”
 “In the Middle East we can help to reduce crises and conflicts. It is in everyone's interest,” Barzani said talking about the impact of an independent Kurdistan on the Middle East. Comparing Kurdistan to a disfunctional Iraqi state which he said is drowned in the conflict between Sunni and Shiites, Barzani said that Kurdistan is and will be different, since it is not a faith-based society. 
"We are a nation, not a faith,” he said. “The Kurds are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Yazidis, and more but have a common national identity. We are a society based on the recognition of people's identity, a nation that believes in peaceful co-existence, a people who have self-determination and which must be protected by international law. Shiites and Sunnis, however, are faiths and in constant war with each other."