Masoud Barzani

Today marks the 48^th year anniversary of the March 11, 1970 agreement between the Iraqi government and Kurdistan, an agreement which granted the Kurds some of their rights.

The March 11 agreement along with other legal agreements between Kurdistan and the central government in Baghdad culminated in the 2005 Iraqi Constitution. Alas, they have collectively failed to grant legitimacy to the concept of partnership. This duration of the past forty eight years since that agreement has undergone a systematic period of oppression against the Kurds from chemical bombardment to the Anfal genocide. Unfortunately, the government in Iraq continues to deliberately neglect the principle of partnership.