“We want to be treated as equal partners, not as guests”

An interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Falah Mustafa, by Francisco Carrión, El Mundo. Original interview in Spanish here 

A century ago French and British secretly  reach an accord, known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, by which most of the Arab lands under the rule of the Ottoman Empire are to be divided into British and French spheres of influence with the conclusion of World War I. The Sykes-Picot agreement celebrated its centenary in May 19th, with the Middle East full of problems and divided by the war against self – proclaimed Islamic State caliphate. The Kurds have also celebrated the expiration of the agreement. In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, a symbolic funeral crossed the downtown streets with the dream of independence, which looks coming closer and closer. “The referendum is a right of the Kurdish people to express their opinion. Since the establishment of Iraq, we have never been treated as equals,” said Falah Mustafa, Kurdish foreign minister, in an interview with El Mundo.