Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said he would give up his position as president on 1 November, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.
There was high drama at the Kurdish parliament, which was stormed by armed protesters as it met to approve the veteran leader's resignation as Kurdish president. Some MPs were barricaded in their offices this evening.
In a televised address, his first since Iraqi forces launched a surprise offensive to recapture Kurdish-held territory on 16 October, Mr Barzani confirmed that he would not extend his presidential term after 1 November "under any conditions".
"I am the same Masoud Barzani, I am a Peshmerga (Kurdish fighter) and will continue to help my people in their struggle for independence," said Mr Barzani, who has campaigned for Kurdish self-determination for nearly four decades.
The address followed a letter he sent to parliament in which he asked members to take measures to fill the resulting power vacuum.
The region's parliament met in the Kurdish capital Erbil today to discuss the letter. A majority of 70 Kurdish MPs voted to accept Mr Barzani's request and 23 opposed it, Kurdish TV channels Rudaw and Kurdistan 24 said.
Demonstrators, some carrying clubs and guns, stormed the parliament building as the session was in progress.
Gunshots were heard. Some protesters outside the building said they wanted to "punish" MPs who they said had "insulted" Mr Barzani. Some attacked journalists at the scene.
A Kurdish official said yesterday that Mr Barzani had decided to hand over the presidency without waiting for elections that had been set for 1 November but which have now been delayed by eight months.
The region, which had enjoyed unprecedented autonomy for years, has been in turmoil since the independence referendum a month ago prompted military and economic retaliation from Iraq's central government in Baghdad.
In his address, Mr Barzani vigorously defended his decision to hold the 25 September referendum, the results of which "can never be erased", he said.
The vote was overwhelmingly for independence and triggered the military action by the Baghdad government and threats from neighbouring Turkey and Iran.
He added that the Iraqi attack on Kirkuk and other Kurdish-held territory vindicated his position that Baghdad no longer believed in federalism and instead wanted to curtail Kurdish rights.
