The centre of the elected body of the Kurdish Diaspora Centre held a conference to announce and establish the Kurdistan Diaspora Confederation in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region. The conference was held under the auspices of President Masoud Barzani in Saad Abdullah Hall. It aims to gather the Kurds who believe in the independence of Kurdistan.

The conference was attended by President Masoud Barzani and the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Mr Masrour Masoud Barzani, and a large number of partisan and non-partisan officials in the Kurdistan Region.

The establishment Kurdish Diaspora Centre was announced in 2019 in Germany. The national struggle continued in many European cities. After two years it was decided to hold a founding conference, under one roof, for the Kurdish Diaspora Centre of the four parts of Kurdistan (Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian parts).

 

Basnews Agency did a special interview with the official of the foreign relations of the Kurdish Diaspora Centre Mr Kajal Darwisch about the purpose of establishing this Kurdistan Diaspora Confederation.

Kajal Darwisch stressed that they have been struggling for a long time to obtain the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people. He also made it clear that every person and organization that trust the independence of Kurdistan and the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people and accepts the other side from other parts of Kurdistan can participate in the founding conference of the Kurdish Diaspora Centre and our doors are open to everyone.

Here is the translation of the interview with Mr Kajal Darwisch

What does the conference of the Kurdish Diaspora Centre in Erbil aim to?

"To establish the Confederation of the Kurdish Diaspora, we, in the name of the Confederation of the Kurdish Diaspora, have been working on the establishment of this Confederation for two years. Therefore, in this conference we announced the establishment of the Confederation of the Kurdish Diaspora in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, to gather the efforts of the Kurds under one roof outside Kurdistan."

"We decide in this conference that the centre will be impartial and independent of any political parties' control. The Centre works to obtain the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people in the four parts. Everyone who works on the Kurdish national rights can join this conference."

"We, the confederation of the Kurdistan diaspora, undoubtedly do not belong to the political parties but we are not against them, on the contrary, we encourage the political parties who are struggling for the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people at the international and regional level. I want to clarify that this conference does not represent all the Kurdish diaspora communities. It represents only the communities the conference announced about. In this conference, we try to connect the organisations and people who believe in the Kurds' legitimate rights to each other."

How can any centre or community join the Kurdistan Diaspora Confederation?

“Every institution or organization that wants to join the Kurdistan Diaspora Confederation should work on:

First: Obeying the laws of the country in which they live.

Second: The doors of the confederation are open to all people and institutions who work for the national interests of Kurdistan and promote the Kurdish heritage and civilization. Every community or institution that wants to join us has first to be a member of the Kurdish Diaspora Centre in the country where our institutions work.

"There are many ethnicities and religions in the Confederation, such as Armenians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, and all religions of Kurdistan, such as Yazidis, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians and a percentage of Alawites. The participation of young people and women in this confederation is very important to us."

What will the Kurdistan Diaspora Confederation do in the four parts?

"As I said earlier, we work based on the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people in the four parts. As well, the Kurdish community has to work to let the world know about the genocides committed against the Kurdish people, such as the Anfal genocide, in which thousands of Kurds were killed by the Baathist regime in Iraq and the genocide committed by ISIS against the Yazidi Kurds. It is our duty to let the world know about the genocides committed against the Kurds. We are also working to organize and unify the Kurdish ideology between the Kurdish diaspora in particular the position and strategy of the Kurdish community."

What is your message to the Kurds in the Kurdish diaspora?

"I hope the Kurdish diaspora do not misunderstand the goals of this conference. This conference is for the Kurdish Diaspora Centre and our conference is to gather all the Kurdish sides in the four parts and I restressed the doors are open to everyone, and as President Masoud Barzani said: "your struggle has reached a more than positive level and the other Kurdish diaspora communities are our brothers & sisters and we serve them and serve the national interests of Kurdistan."