Kurdish leader resigns after independence vote backfires

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani says he will give up his position as president on November 1, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said on Sunday (October 29) the he would give up his position as president on November 1, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.
In his address, his first since Iraqi forces launched a surprise offensive to recapture Kurdish-held territory in mid-October, Barzani vigorously defended his decision to hold the September 25 voting, saying its results can never be erased.
He added that the Iraqi offensives and the refusal of the Iraqi government to agree to dialogue vindicated his view that government in Baghdad no longer believes in Kurdish rights.
The address followed a letter he sent to parliament in which he asked members to take measures to fill the resulting power vacuum.