ERBIL — Kurdish prominent leader and former president of Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, said on Thursday that nothing had hurt him more than the massacre of Yezidis in Sinjar at the hand of the Islamic State (IS).

“No tragedy hurt me more than what happened to our Yezidi brothers and sisters. However, the Peshmerga, with their blood and courage, took the revenge on those who committed the crime,” Barzani said at a meeting with Yezidis’ religious council of Lalish.

Barzani, who is the president of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), stressed that after the fall of the Baath Regime in 2003, he worked seriously to break down the mentality that was standing against Yezidis pursuing high-ranking positions in the country. “I finally succeeded in helping a Yezidi figure in a ministerial position.”

On elections, the Kurdish leader stated that thousands of votes casted by the Yezidis were lost during the May election for the Iraqi parliament as part of an attempt to weaken the KDP in Nineveh province.

“However, the KDP became the first Kurdish party in the whole Iraq, and it scored an outstanding victory,” Barzani said.

Bas News