Kurdistan’s President Masoud Barzani announced his resignation three days before the end of his term in office, with violence erupting against the autonomous region’s parliament, according to tweets from Erbil. A number of protesters stormed the parliament in Erbil while the legislators voted for distributing the presidential powers of Barzani among several agencies. Barzani said he remained committed to the Kurdish independence cause, adding he was confident that the nation will one day attain independence. The news comes after an Iraqi army offensive in the region that led to the takeover of Kirkuk, the center of northern Iraq’s oil industry and a city that the Kurds had control over outside the borders of the autonomous region. The Iraqi troops also took control of surrounding oil fields. The now former President noted in his speech that the Iraqi offensive would have happened even without the referendum. “Even if the referendum […]