President Masoud Barzani: The Iraqi problem is not intractable to a solution... and everyone must bear responsibly

President Masoud Barzani said , that there is not a problem that is intractable to a solution if there is real leadership and good intentions, expressing at the same time his concern about the current crisis in Iraq while he called for a sense of responsibility to end the suffering of Iraqis. This came in his speech during a ceremony to return the remains of 100 Barzanis who were taken to the deserts of southern Iraq and killed at the hands of the former regime in the eighties of the last century.

Barzani said that the former regime committed a heinous crime against eight thousand innocent people when they were driven to the deserts of southern Iraq and buried there in mass graves. "What we see before us are the remains of one hundred of these martyrs," he added, noting that some of them were executed by shooting them in the head, and some of them were buried alive. 

Barzani pointed out that "it is true that there are problems, and the existence of problems is a natural thing, and there is no problem that is difficult to solve if there are good intentions and real will."

“We heard a lot about oil and gas problem, the budget and other problems," he said. “These are all solvable problems, but in my opinion and belief the main and serious problem is the problem of the culture that produced this crime.” Barzani said, "The culture of rejecting the other and the chauvinistic culture that is still rooted. We must all get rid of this culture and turn to a culture of tolerance, coexistence, brotherhood and love.” Barzani stressed the need to establish a culture of coexistence, and added, "We must not allow the crimes of the former regime to create enmity among the people. "We were waiting for our allies to alleviate the suffering of the victims' families, but we found the opposite," he added.

Barzani also expressed his concern about the current situation in Iraq, and said, "We are very concerned about the current crisis, stressing that the opportunity that arose after the fall of the former regime was not exploited by ignoring the constitution, not solving the causes of problems and mishandling the situation." He said that all Iraqis deserve a better life after they have suffered so much, and expressed his hope that everyone will feel responsible, with good intentions and a solid will to end this crisis and not to repeat such a tragedy again.