H.E President Massoud Barzani delivers a message to the people of Kurdistan

“In the name of God, the Beneficial, the Merciful,

The people of Kurdistan who are characterized by its culture on respect for religious diversity and coexistence throughout its history has always been a strong advocate for itself; though the enemies' aggressive approach, now ceased, tried to hurt our people in various ways.

After the events in Mosul, Kurdistan stood to defend itself, but terrorists have started provocations and aggression against the region causing the recent unfortunate atrocities, that led us to decide to get out of the defence-mode and start an offensive in fighting the terrorists. At last gasp we have ordered our forces, the Peshmerga, to directly attack the enemies to drive them out of our land with all their strength.

Recent events in the region of Weshnkal led to tragic anguish against the Yezidi brothers, we must all protect their dignity and to reassure people that we will not give up one inch of the land of Kurdistan and preserve the Yezidi as brothers.

Terrorism is a global problem and it needs an international effort. Kurdistan for years has been a victim of terrorism and terrorists, we regret to say that no one helps the people of Kurdistan to defend itself against terrorism and remained alone in it, though we have adopted in our war against terrorism the Peshmerga forces to protect our region, with our commitment to the principles of freedom and the culture of coexistence and tolerance rooted in Kurdistan, which was the point of strength of the victory over the enemies and haters.

Our valiant began with an attack on terrorists is progressing successfully, so I ask the people of Kurdistan, the political parties and the media to deal with high morale and with caution to a sense of responsibility and maintain national unity and nationalism more than ever.

It also reassures our brave Peshmerga forces we stand behind them and support them with full integrity as they put every confidence in their sacrifices, their heroism and their high morale.

In closing, I extend my thanks to all of our people in Kurdistan, our Peshmergas heroes, volunteers and honourable martyrs.

Long live Kurdistan

Glory and eternity for the martyrs of freedom"

Massoud Barzani

President of Kurdistan region

4/8/2014