Iraqi Kurdistan’s president to stand down

29 October 2017
Masoud Barzani says he will give up his position on 1 November

Iraqi Kurdistan’s President Masoud Barzani has told the Kurdish region’s parliament that he will give up his position on 1 November.

“I refuse to continue in the position of president of the region after November 1,” he said in a letter published by his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) “I will continue serving Kurdistan as a Peshmerga”.

In the letter Barzani said that his presidential powers should be divided between the government, parliament and judiciary.

His resignation comes after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s parliament met in the Kurdish capital Erbil on Sunday to discuss the letter, according to a Reuters report.

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