ROME, Italy-- Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has said the fight against the Islamic State is the top priority of his government. Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference in Rome on Tuesdsay with the Italian foreign minister, Barzani called for continued international military support against the ISIS militants. “The Peshmarga are in the frontline, but I’m confident with the assistance from the international community we will be able to annihilate these terrorists,” Barzani said. Barzani is in Rome on an official visit for meetings with Italian Prime Minster Matteo Renzi and Pope Francis at the Vatican. Safin Dizayi, a government spokesman, told Rudaw earlier that Italy is considering changing the status of its trade office in Erbil to an official consulate. Renzi was quoted on the KRG official website as saying the official consulate in Erbil will show, “It is important for us to see Kurdistan as stable as it is.” Renzi was among the first European head of states to visit the Kurdistan region following the ISIS offensive in August. “We have discussed our aid to the Kurdistan region which will be both humanitarian and military,” Italy’s Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said at the joint conference. “All the different religious groups in Kurdistan, Christians, Ezidis, Shabaks and others, need our assistance, which is why we need to support the Kurdistan region,” he added. Responding to a question if the Kurds would ask for international support for independence after the ISIS war, Barzani said Kurdistan is committed to the Iraqi constitution. He added that the Iraqi government also needs to be “realistic” in the face of what he described as “sever complications” between Erbil and Baghdad. “More than 80 percent of the Iraqi people have voted for this constitution. Iraq must be realistic. We are prepared to solve the issues, but for now we have Daesh (an acronym for ISIS) as our top priority,” he responded.
