“We live in a stable security situation that can only be attributed to the Peshmerga forces and security institutions who have for more than two years been facing off a savage terrorist organization,” Barzani said, speaking in Erbil to the heads of religious affairs in Kurdistan.
“The Peshmerga who possess high morality have shown great bravery in defeating ISIS and protecting all ethnic minorities,” the prime minister said. “Preserving this coexistence guarantees us international support.”
Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces have been fighting ISIS for more than two years. This has earned them recognition and support worldwide.
“ISIS, with its barbaric acts in the name of Islam, has tainted the image of Islam and Peshmerga forces have with their high values won the pride of the Kurdish nation and the whole world,” Barzani said.
“The Peshmerga who possess high morality have shown great bravery in defeating ISIS and protecting all ethnic minorities,” he added.
In multi-ethnic and multi-religious Iraq, the Kurds have been at pains to treat all minorities alike, including the 1.8 million displaced persons from across Iraq and refugees from Syria who have been sheltering in Kurdistan, among them Christians, Shiites and others.
“Preserving this coexistence guarantees us international support,” Barzani told the religious heads at the ceremony, praising the group prayers performed by the Peshmerga in the mornings where different religions pray together.
“The group prayer performance by the Peshmerga and their hand of help for children and their displaced families shows the high moral code they practice in their current fight and past revolutions,” Barzani said.
“From here I salute the soul of those Peshmerga who lost their lives and Iraqi forces who continue recording victories in the Mosul operation shoulder to shoulder with the Peshmerga forces,” he added.
“Mosques cannot be used for spreading extremist ideas and it is not allowed for any mosque podium to be used for political purposes,” he declared. “The eyes of the Kurdish nation and their Peshmerga are on the religious figures to eradicate extremism.”
Barzani said that, “Hundreds have lost their lives and thousands displaced by violence in the region and we don’t want sectarian or religious wars to ever take place in Kurdistan.”
He added that, “ISIS is militarily on the defeat but work should be done to make sure the time they created is never repeated. ISIS carried out the biggest and most barbaric crimes in Kurdistan by abducting Yezidi mothers and sisters and this barbarism should not be forgotten and must be held in check.”
Speaking more than three weeks after the start of the offensive to evict ISIS from its stronghold of Mosul, the Kurdish prime minister said the city would be liberated soon.
“The Mosul operation is nearing victory day after day and it will soon be free with minimum casualties. But the rise, growth and rule of ISIS is something to ponder and study,” he explained.
“The dominance of one religious group and pushing aside the other was part of what created ISIS and the group’s strength came from seizing the weapons and arsenal of six Iraqi army divisions,” Barzani noted.
He asked if there were “any guarantees against the rise of ISIS in the region again.”
Since before the launch of the Mosul offensive, Erbil has been insisting that an administration for post-ISIS Mosul must be decided so that all minorities feel included and there is no possibility of another group taking advantage of differences to turn to terrorism.
“The Kurdistan Region wants a stable neighborhood not one full of trouble and disputes,” Barzani said. “Kurdistan’s leaders and their Peshmerga showed the world that they are for peace, and that condition is rooted in Kurdistan Region’s religious tolerance.”
He lamented that, “There is until this point no agreement on a post-ISIS Iraq. Neither is there an international agreement on a new shape for the region after ISIS. Therefore, it is important that you religious men work to stop extremist ideas from spreading,” he concluded.
