Protests to commemorate the first anniversary of reform-demanding protests in Kurdistan tomorrow are inappropriate, said secretary general for Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) Salahaddin Bahaaddin.
The 2011 Sulaymaniyah protests refers to a series of protests and demonstrations that started in the city in February last year. The Movement for Change, a mayor opposition party, called for the resignation of the cabinet and the disbandment of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

From February 17 to April 18 public protests swept through Sulaymaniyah province, one of the three provinces of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. Some 11 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. The protests ended only through military deployment.

A campaign for staging similar protests tomorrow has been underway for several days in press and social media outlets. Police have been on alert since Wednesday.

Bahaaddin said Kurdistan does not require "sweeping, running, toppling down, murder, genocide" but "revising, reform and combating corruption and uprooting deception and corruption".

He invited all layers of society to become "active participants" in a process of reform and reorganization.

"We believe that the commemoration of the February and March protests is not only through public demonstration and protest. We, in the current situation of the region and Iraq, do not support the commemoration in the form of demonstrations for this year," he added.

Bahaaddin said the reasons and incentives for last year's protests "are always there alive".

He said the protests, with all their shortcomings and mishaps, reflected "the genuine voice of the Kurdish humble public who demanded reform, amendments, revision and a return to the major goals of the Kurdish liberation movements, above all the dignity of Kurdish individuals".