Kurdish students of the Salahaddin University hold posters of Kurdish President Massud Barzani during a protest in his support in Erbil on October 30, 2017. Long-time Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, the architect of the Kurdish referendum, announced on October 29, 2017 he is stepping down after the relations between Erbil and Baghdad hit its lowest since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Photo AFP/Safin Hamed
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States has welcomed the resignation of the Kurdish President Masoud Barzani on Monday while saying that they will now channel their diplomatic efforts between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments through the office of the Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.
President Masoud Barzani announced on Sunday that he will not seek to stay in in office after he served as the highest executive authority in the Kurdish Region for 12 years. Most of the powers held within the office of the Kurdish presidency now lie in the hands of the PM Nechirvan Barzani following a vote by the Kurdish parliament.
The US State Department called Masoud Barzani “a historic figure and courageous leader of his people,” who most recently fought alongside the US-led Global Coalition against the ISIS.
It added that the decision by Masoud Barzani to step down “represents an act of statesmanship during a difficult period.”
In his resignation speech, President Barzani discussed the Kurdish independence referendum held last month, the fall of Kirkuk, and the world's silence as Iraqi security forces, supported by the Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi have swept through Kurdish-controlled areas since October 16.
President Barzani in particular criticized the US silence.
“Our people should now question, whether the US was aware of Iraq’s attack and why they did not prevent it,” Barzani said.
The statement –attributed to the spokeswoman of the State Department – did not respond to Barzani's criticism.
Spokesperson Heather Nauert instead stated the US believes that “a strong KRG within a unified and federal Iraq is essential to its long-term stability and to the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
It said that they look forward to engaging actively with PM Barzani, and his deputy Qubad Talabani.
“We call on the Government of Iraq and the KRG under its new leadership to work urgently to resolve pending issues under the Iraqi constitution,” the statement continued.
It said they welcome the recent meeting between the Iraqi and Kurdish security officials while calling for an end to all confrontations and clashes, the US statement added.
The United States welcomes a decision by Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi to begin talks with the Kurdistan Region on the basis of the Iraqi constitution and to avoid military confrontations.
Kurdish and Iraqi security officials have held a series of meeting in Mosul, and the town of Fish Khabur near the Kurdish-Turkish border to find a negotiated agreement so that Iraqi federal forces will be deployed to the border areas, and elsewhere without confrontation.
The relations between Erbil and Baghdad have reached their lowest point after an Iraqi-led military operation drove Peshmerga forces out of oil-rich Kirkuk and many other disputed or Kurdistani areas since October 16, resulting in the worst crisis between the two since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The Iraqi government justified its set of measures, including military ones, by accusing the Kurdish government of violating the Iraqi constitution by holding a vote on independence that saw nearly 93 percent of the people choosing to leave Iraq.
The Kurdistan Regional Government headed by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has offered to freeze the results of the vote in exchange for open talks with Baghdad on the basis of the Iraqi constitution, but the government of PM Abadi have said it is not enough and Erbil must announce the vote null and void.
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