DHAKA: Kurds have a right to self-determination and statehood, but this will not be accomplished through violence, the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, has said.

It is ‘a natural right for there to be a state for the Kurdish people, but this will not be achieved by violence, and must be done in a natural way’, Barzani said in an exclusive interview with Agence France-Presse, reports Turkish daily Hurriyet.

‘This age is the age of understanding, and we encourage dialogue between the Kurds and... the states’ where Kurdish populations live, he said.

In Iraq, the Kurds now have a three-province autonomous region in the country’s north with its own government, security forces, flag and borders.

Although Iraqi Kurdistan and the federal government in Baghdad moved to reduce high tensions earlier this year, they are still at odds over a number of issues.

BDST: 1324 HRS, OCT 14, 2013
RoR/BSK