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US Congressman introduces bill backing Kurdistan right to self-determination

By Rudaw 26/9/2017

US Republican Congressman Trent Franks. File photo: AP

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – On Monday evening, as people in Kurdistan cast their ballots in their referendum on independence, US Congressman Trent Franks introduced legislation to support Kurdistan’s right of self-determination.

“Last night, I [introduced] legislation to convey Congress’ support for Kurds to determine status as a sovereign country,” he tweeted on Tuesday.

Franks, also Chairman of the Missile Defense Caucus, said in a statement on Monday that now is the time to support Kurdish aspirations for independence.

“While the Obama administration dithered and fought efforts to arm and support the Kurds, the Trump administration has the opportunity to stand with a noble people in their time of need. A free and independent Kurdistan can represent hope for peace in the Middle East,” wrote Franks in a statement released on Monday.

The longtime proponent of the Kurdish people expressed that Baghdad has failed to secure Kurdish rights and effectively protect the Kurdish people from members of ISIS and other violent forces.

“Thank God for the Kurds – they have delivered countless groups and individuals from the hands of ISIS. Without their armed defense of northern territory, and the protection of over 2 million refugees, the medieval horrors of ISIS could have been much more widespread,” Franks added.

The Chairman of the Missile Defense Caucus explained that “during the darkest days of the Iraq War, Kurdistan remained a sanctuary of order in the midst of sectarian chaos.”

He cited the protection of Iraq’s minority groups by Kurdistan, but encouraged them “to support the self-determination of other groups in the region, such as the Christians of the Nineveh Plain, the Yezidis of Shengal, and the Turkmen of Tal-Afar,” adding that Christians in the Nineveh Plains “may soon face a similar decision.”

He encouraged Kurds to lead by example.

“If the Kurds can show through their actions that their key ally is the United States of America, and they are neither an ally with the Islamist Sunni regime in Turkey nor an ally of the Islamist Shia regime in Iran, the United States will always gladly support them.”

People of Kurdistan cast their vote for independence on Monday, September 25. Official results of the vote are expected to be released within 72 hours. President Masoud Barzani claimed victory in the vote during a televised address Tuesday evening.

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0 Robert Furst | 26/9/2017

Globalization is dead. Thank God.

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2 A Kurd in exile | 27/9/2017

Thank you and God bless you Congressman Trent Franks!

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2 Kurdish State | 27/9/2017

Congressman Trent Franks is accurately conveying us the true feelings and wishes of all patriotic Americans without ambiguity .He does it with the profound convictions of a noble statesman .May God bless Trent Franks, and the two friendly American and Kurdish nations .

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0 Dear Trent Franks | 27/9/2017

Dear Trent Franks, dear American patriots : the Kurds over the last years have shown how brave and noble nation they are .As Turkey was held by the US as "official key ally" it was supporting the Islamist State, the Kurds were the only who confronted the Islamist hords and defeated them .Thousands of Kurds have lost their lives in this war against the Islamist terror state. But the Kurds are suffering from the brutal supression of the Islamist states of Turkey and Iran . To build a solid strategy you have to base it upon a permanent ground which is the IDENTITY : this means that the Kurdish identity has genuine affinity with the Western civilization and the human values ,so you can trust them and such a strategy will never fail by any regime or government changes as the Kurds will always stay as they are: profoundly humane and close to the western values, and non muslims at all if you care looking inside their bleeding hearts ... Look what has happened with Iran : the Iranians after the fall of the Shah have shown you what they truely are : fanatic Muslims and anti-americans .As the iraqi Arabs killed some 4000 American sodiers , not even one single American was ever hurt in the Kurdish region and they were feted as friends and liberators.The Kurds ever since 2003 they are fighting side by side with the Americans both in Iraq and Syria, letting their blood for freedom and human salvage as true knights in this cruel war against the muslim terror of Arabs,Turks and Iranians.

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