The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government Nechirvan Barzani yesterday warned that managing Mosul will be more difficult than the ongoing operation to free it.

In a speech that he made at a conference on tolerance and coexistence which began in Erbil yesterday, Barzani said that “Liberating Mosul is easier than the next stage of the battle”, and pointed out that “We must be wary of the real dangers that will exist after the city has been liberated”.

The Kurdish media network Rudaw quoted Barzani as saying “A political agreement is needed between the government and people of all ethnic and religious groups in Mosul for how to deal with the situation after liberation”. He continued by saying that “Liberating Mosul is certainly a lot easier than running it afterwards, but unfortunately a serious intention is not seen for this reality yet. On the contrary there is evasion of responsibility which would make the threats after ISIS not less serious than when Mosul was under ISIS.”

Barzani added that “An agreement is needed based on the political, social, geographic and demographic reality of the region of Mosul and its vicinities as the only guarantee of stability and peace for its people. It will also prevent an engulfing fire that internal and regional powers are trying to ignite. We should all be careful and know that this is a serious and real threat.”

On the other hand, Barzani pointed out that “the successful coexistence experiment in the Kurdistan region has become a subject of the world’s admiration” and added that “our culture and spirit of coexistence has prompted countries around the world to support us”. He continued by saying “We have a great responsibility to promote coexistence in the face of terrorist ideology”.