President Barzani: “The people of Kurdistan in Iraq rose up in the spring of 1991 and built an open society that believes in tolerance and peaceful coexistence.”

As part of his participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos, President of Kurdistan-region Massoud Barzani joined in a special closed meeting functioned by Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. The meeting was attended by heads of state and ministries from Europe, north Africa and the Middle East, including former Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The leaders discussed crucial issues, principally in the Middle East, the situation in Syria and the role of the Kurds. President Barzani said in his speech that the Kurdish people rose up in the spring of 1991 and fabricated an open society that believes in tolerance and co-existence, developing its economy in an orderly manner. Mr Barzani stressed that the people of Kurdistan cannot defend dictatorships but in an uprising, ordered access to freedom and democracy.