Speaking with Tehran Foreign Policy Studies Quarterly magazine, Barzani said: "We were able to manage our regions ourselves. Of course, when I say" We managed "I do not mean a specific Kurdish faction, but I mean all the factions cooperated on this, especially Mr. Talabani and Mr. Barzani and worked together, we were able to create a unified system. We were able to hold elections, and of course there were problems ... but we were able to overcome all these stages. "
"If we want to review the achievements, we will find that we have come a long way," and we have a further way forward. I do not say that there is no corruption here, or that everything is fine, no, it is not so, but when I see where we are and where we have become, I feel In 2004 and 2005, Erbil was a large village, it had no civilized construction, but today it has changed a lot. If we compare the infrastructure that was created today from airports, modern roads and hospitals with 2003, We will find that our progress was very good.."
Barzani said, "Knowing that after 2014 when IS appeared, we froze all our urban activities and infrastructure, because our priority was managing the war with IS. We had a common border with IS that extended for a thousand and hundred kilometers. In this war imposed on us, we gave 2,000 martyrs of Peshmerga forces, and nearly ten thousand wounded, then we received about two million displaced people in this country.
This is how I describe what happened ٬ We were stuck in a tunnel, but thanks God we were able to get out of it thanks to the support of the Kurdish people, who were carrying a correct understanding. Had it not been for this popular support, Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq would have been destroyed for some time. But the people realized the nature of the situation and provided support. For example, during that period the region's employees did not receive their salaries for many months or they received half of their salaries, yet they had high awareness. Today, we have a ray of light in this tunnel, and we are moving towards it, and we will start activating the projects of reconstruction again. "
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