President Barzani calls for Kurdistan to be a model of coexistence
Shafaq News/ The President of Iraq's Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, on Sunday called for the region to become a beacon of coexistence and a model of tolerance to be emulated by the people of the Middle East and the world.
Barzani made those remarks in a speech he delivered during a ceremony held at the Kurdistan Regional Government headquarters to celebrate the Kurdistan Flag Day.
The President congratulated all Kurds, Kurdistan, and the Peshmerga forces on the occasion, which he described as "blessed".
"The Kurdistan flag is a colorful painting drawn with the blood of martyrs, the will of the fighters, and the coexistence of all those who consider Kurdistan their home," Barzani said.
He went on to discuss the colors of the flag, saying, "let the colors of our flag awaken the noble desires and values in our souls. The white color symbolizes justice, peace, and coexistence, the green color symbolizes life and its continuation and the struggle, the red color symbolizes steadfastness, struggle, the sanctity of the blood of martyrs, and the path to the freedom of Kurdistan, and the yellow sun that is in the center of our flag is the ray from which we derive the realization of our hopes and aspirations to achieve the right of self-determination.”
He noted that "this flag, even though it symbolizes the one homeland, it also binds the hearts of the children of this country, one by one, wherever they are, to the Kurds and all other components."
"Let raising the flag today renew the covenant in ourselves to overcome divisions, to respect our differences, and to build together a nation that will be the hope of all who live in Kurdistan."
"I hope that Kurdistan will become a home of coexistence and a model of tolerance between the peoples of the region and the world," he continued.
"Our flag is a symbol of our common aspirations, a symbol of facing challenges and overcoming obstacles, and it is a symbol of our commitment to a brighter future for all of us."
In October 1918, near the end of World War I, Mahmud Barzanji broke away from the Ottoman Empire and established the Kurdish state. As it was initially subordinate to Britain, the polity flew the British Union Jack until it revolted in May 1919.
In May 1919, the Kurdish State revolted against the British Empire, and adopted a crescent flag. The British Empire conquered the Kurdish state in June 1919.
A national Kurdish flag, with a coat of arms instead of a sunburst, was adopted in 1946 by the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mahabad. In 1992, the Iraqi Kurdistan region adopted the 21-ray sunburst design of Dr. Mehrdad Izady and Dr. Bijhan Eliasi. To this day, the sunburst design remains the National Flag of Kurdistan.
While the National Flag of Kurdistan is recognized throughout all Kurdish regions, several other national flags are flown by various Kurdish political groups across Kurdistan.
The format of the modern Kurdish flag, which was designed by Dr. Mehrdad Izady, and comprises of a tricolor background, and a centrally placed sun disk. The colors of the flag, from top to bottom, are red, white and green. The yellow sun disk at the center has 21 rays, equal in size and shape. Both the sun emblem and the number 21 hold religious and cultural importance in the native Kurdish Yazdani religious traditions.
