ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A statue of the towering French general and statesman Charles de Gaulle was unveiled in a formal ceremony in the Kurdish capital city of Erbil on Thursday, with representatives of Kurdish leaders in attendance alongside senior officials and diplomats.
The monument was inaugurated in central Erbil’s Sami Abdulrahman Park during a ceremony organized by the Rwanga Foundation and the French Consulate in Erbil, attended by representatives of President Masoud Barzani, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, and French Consul General Yann Braem.
Braem told Rudaw that “the relationship [between France and the Kurds] was established in 1966, and since then it has continued steadily,” pointing to the role of French late first lady of France Danielle Mitterrand (1981 to 1995), who advocated for the Kurds suffering under the former Baathist regime in Iraq, among many other political leaders.
The monument was placed next to a prominent plaque containing the historic text of a 1968 letter between the late Kurdish leader, Mullah Mustafa Barzani, and de Gaulle.
At the time, the Kurdish national movement was fighting a years-long war against successive governments in Baghdad. Seeking to suppress the rebellion, Iraq approached France to purchase advanced military equipment, including Dassault Mirage fighter jets.
Fearing the consequences, Mulla Mustafa Barzani wrote directly to de Gaulle, invoking his legacy of resisting Nazi occupation and defending the right of peoples to self-determination. “Iraq is requesting weapons from France without resolving the Kurdish issue; those weapons will only lead to the destruction and genocide of our women and children,” the late Kurdish leader wrote, urging France to support a fair and peaceful solution.
Ruwanga Foundation Director Hassan Aladdin told Rudaw that “following the historic letter by the late leader of the Kurdish people, Mustafa Barzani, to general de Gaulle, the French leader decided not to supply arms to Iraq.”
“In recognition of that decision and out of respect for the late French general, we decided to erect this statue in his honor,” Aladdin added, noting that “it stands as a tribute to that historic correspondence from Mulla Mustafa Barzani and symbolizes the shared history and enduring ties between our peoples.”
For his part, Kurdish sculptor Aram Nasir, a former student in France, told Rudaw that he crafted the monument from marble in a realistic style. “I sought to depict de Gaulle neither as a young man nor as an elderly figure, but rather as he appeared in the later stages of his life, embodying the wisdom, maturity, and stature that defined his legacy,” he said.
The relationship between the Kurds and France stretches back decades and is marked by several pivotal historical moments, among them are general de Gaulle’s favorable response to the request from Mulla Mustafa Barzani and the advocacy of the late first lady Mitterrand, whose campaign for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Kurdistan helped lay the foundations for the Kurdistan Region’s path toward its current autonomous status.
Affectionately known as the “Mother of the Kurds,” Mitterrand inaugurated the Kurdistan Region’s first parliament in 1992.
France was also among the first countries to establish a consulate in Erbil following the fall of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. As of latest, Paris has remained a key partner of the Kurdistan Region, providing political, diplomatic, and military support to Kurdish communities in both Iraq and Syria, particularly during the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
