ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) council of ministers has issued a statement on the eve of the 27th anniversary of the 1991 uprisings.
Kurds in Iraq took to the streets in March 1991, leading to an uprising that would continue for nearly a month and gradually set the grounds for what later became the Kurdistan Region.
The initial uprising began on March 5, 1991 in the town of Raniya, but it soon came to Erbil, Sulaimani, Dohuk and even Kirkuk, where the security forces of Saddam Hussein's regime were ousted.
“The uprising was the exhibition of the wish and will of the Kurdistan nation for rejecting oppression and dictatorship,” reads the statement published on Sunday by the KRG cabinet.
The statement says all uprisings and revolutions against authoritarian Iraqi regimes in the past testify to the fact that no one can “neglect” the wish and will of the people of Kurdistan for life, liberty, and dignity.
“Your legitimate demands in a federal Iraq are a natural right and just. Peaceful coexistence, real partnership, consensus, and respecting the constitution is the bases on which the new Iraq has been found,” the statement adds.
The council of ministers believes that a prosperous and stable Iraq can only come about through a democratic and federal system in which the constitution is respected and a real partnership is practiced.
The council of ministers called for the safeguarding of the achievements of the uprisings. “Be sure your morale and steadfastness is stronger than any obstacle or plot and we can together overcome all issues and obstructions,” the statement adds.
The statement comes a day after the Iraqi parliament passed the controversial budget bill with a majority, a first for the new Iraq.
The budget bill ignored the financial needs of the Kurdistan Region, according to Kurdish MPs and officials.
KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani underscored the belief that the budget does not reflect what post-2003 Iraq was founded on, namely the principle of partnership and consensus.
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