FALAH MUSTAFA BAKIR:

Iraq as a state didn't exist that much.

Iraq is an artificial state. And what's built here on wrong foundations will not be able to survive. We as Kurds have suffered a lot. And we pay the price of keeping the balance between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq. Time has come in order to correct that historical mistake.

And we're not ready to pay more prices for the instability of that area. The Iraqi army collapsed because it was built or rebuilt on wrong foundations. It wasn't an army in order to protect the country and the people of the country against external threats.

It was used against the Kurds when we had political differences with Baghdad. Therefore, we lost hope in the new Iraq. This wasn't the Iraq that we have contributed so positively, and this wasn't the Iraq that Americans have sacrificed their lives for.