ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish leaders on Thursday conveyed messages of unity and strength on the 64th anniversary of the September Revolution, a Kurdish revolt against the Iraqi government.
Known as the “Aylul Revolution,” the uprising began on September 11, 1961 after then Iraqi prime minister Abd al-Karim Qassim failed to meet the demands of Kurds, led by Mullah Mustafa Barzani. The uprising continued until 1975 when Kurds were disappointed when they lost out in the Algiers Agreement between Iran and Iraq that addressed border issues.
After nearly a decade of armed struggle, the Iraqi government on March 11, 1970, agreed to give Kurds autonomy, a decision that was never implemented on the ground.
In 1974, the Iraqi army waged war on the Kurds again. The revolution collapsed with the 1975 Algiers Accord between Iran and Iraq, cutting off Iran’s support for the Kurdish revolution.
"The great Aylul Revolution started at a difficult and critical time when all sides were denying the existence of the Kurdistan nation. It became an identity and the foundation of national and patriotic ideology," said Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani.
President Barzani added that the September Revolution gave the people of Kurdistan "a new spirit to stand up and resist. It became the umbrella that brought together all groups and components and conveyed the right, legitimate and brave voice of the Kurdish people to the whole world."
The president stressed that the Kurdish leadership is committed to the principles of "freedom, democracy, co-existence, and tolerance," in the Kurdistan Region.
Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and KDP leader Masoud Barzani also commemorated the September or Aylul Revolution.
"On the 64th anniversary of the great Aylul Revolution, we reiterate our determination to honoring the valuable and important outcomes of the Aylul Revolution for the unity and harmony among all groups and components of the Kurdistan nation for the sake of advocating for our national achievements and safeguarding the constitutional entity of the Kurdistan Region," Prime Minister Barzani said.
The KDP leader, for his part, hailed the Aylul Revolution as "an inspiration" and "a source of strength" for other stages of armed struggle against the successive Iraqi governments.
The Aylul Revolution was "a golden page in the freedom movement of Kurdistan," Barzani said.
