President Barzani: Current Situation in Iraq is the Result of 15 Years of Failure.

Kurdish prominent leader and the president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, released an official statement on the ongoing crisis in Iraq, saying it is the result of Baghdad’s 15 years of failure.

Since early October, hundreds of thousands of protestors have been on the streets to demand immediate reforms or the dissolvent of the Iraqi federal government. The protests then turned violent and left hundreds killed and many more injured.

“We are monitoring the situation with great concern, and we believe that what is evolving now is not just today but due to a prolonged failure throughout the past 15 years,” Barzani, who previously served as the president of Kurdistan Region, said on Saturday.

He urged the relevant authorities to avoid violence as the people are practicing their right to demand a better living condition. Barzani noted that one of the main causes of the current crisis is the fact that the constitution is not implemented fully.

“One of the main problems is having the Constitution unimplemented… Another is the Law of Election,” reads the statement. The Kurdish leader urges an amendment to the Law of Election in a way that “the result could demonstrate the true will of the peoples”.

“On the calls for an amendment to the Constitution, we believe that no will should be imposed, and it must not harm the democratic principles as well as the rights of the Kurds and other components.”

Barzani concluded the statement by reminding that any change or amendment should be introduced within the legal and constitutional frameworks only.