Story highlights Demonstrators storm Kurdish parliament buildingMasoud Barzani will leave the Kurdish presidency November 1(CNN) Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani will step down as president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region as the political backlash to September's Kurdish independence referendum continues. Barzani's office released a statement Sunday announcing the Kurdish leader will not extend his current term, which ends Wednesday. He will also suspend the post of the presidency, dispersing executive powers over other branches of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). "I refuse to continue as president of Kurdistan region after November 1," Barzani's letter said. The letter was read in front of the Kurdish Parliament in Irbil and posted on the official Kurdistan region presidency website.

Source: CNN October 29, 2017 16:07 UTC