The Catalan parliament has set October 1 for their vote, a move that has been rejected by the Spanish government.
Artur Mas, former president of Catalonia, in March was given a two-year ban on holding public office for organizing a referendum in 2014, deemed illegal under Spanish law.
Speaking to Rudaw, Mas said he was happy Catalonia was now holding the vote and expressed his support for Kurdistan’s independence bid as they are “defending democracy” and building their own future.
After passing a law in their regional parliament, “if the ‘Yes’ vote succeeds, after counting the votes, we will declare independence 48 hours later,” said Marta Robera, an MP from the Leftist party in the Catalan party.
Like Kurds, the people of Catalan are eagerly waiting the referendum date. “We have come today to support referendum. We want to vote for independence as we have been waiting for it for a long time,” said one Catalan in Barcelona.
