FLASH : Kifri to celebrate 90th anniversary of first Kurdish Government in history

ERBIL, Sept. 20 (AKnews) –A festival to celebrate the 90th anniversary of declaration of the first Kurdish Government in history will run in Kifri, the town where Malik (King) Mahmoud announced the first Kurdish Government.

 The two-day festival, organized by Kifri’s Cultural Center and Garmiyan Archeology Directorate will begin Monday, said Saman Karim, spokesperson for the festival.  Karim said the festival will be held under the slogan “Kifri is the cradle of revolution and must remains alive.”

He added a number of historical and scientific researches about the town of Kifri and its relation with King Mahmoud and Garmiyan area as well as an art program will be presented in the festival. Kurdistan Regional Government’s Premier Nechirvan Barzani and his deputy are invited to the festival “because the purpose of the gathering is rebuilding the town and freeing it from the sidelining and negligence state it has stuck in,” said Karim.

Tahsin Garmiyani a member of the festival’s organizing committee said the festival is an attempt to inform the government about the actual state of Kifri and the degree the town “has been neglected” in relation to government’s plans of reconstruction. After returning from his exile in 1922, Malik Mahmoud passed by Kifri (100km southwest Kirkuk ) and after a meeting declared the first Kurdish Government.