Asia
Barzani to step down as Kurdish leader in Iraq
9 years ago(FILES) This file photo taken on September 24, 2017 shows Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, seated next to a Kurdish flag, during a press conference in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Massud Barzani, the president of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, told a closed-door session of parliament on October 29, 2017 he was stepping down amid the fall-out from a controversial independence referendum. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
"After November 1, I will no longer exercise my functions, and I reject any extension of my mandate," the 71-year-old said in a letter read out to parliament in the Kurdish capital Arbil, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.