He made the call on the anniversary of the 1970 Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement.

The 1970 Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement was an agreement which the federal government and the Kurds reached on March 11, 1970 for creation of an autonomous Region, before being abolished in 1974.

“It was the first official document in the contemporary history of the people of Kurdistan that forced the Iraqi government to recognize some of [the Region’s] rights in the framework of autonomy,” he said.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement that the agreement was the product of the struggle and sacrifices of the Kurdistan Region’s and their wills for peaceful coexistence and rejecting war and destruction.

“We emphasize fundamental solution to our problems with the federal government,” he added.

Relations between Baghdad and Erbil have also been particularly tumultuous since 2014, with persistent disagreements over the budget, the KRG’s independent oil sales, the disputed areas, and the Region’s 2017 independence referendum.

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