ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region leaders expressed their sincere condolences for the death of US Senator Lindsey Graham, commending him as “a friend of the Kurdish people” and lauding his “unwavering support for the legitimate rights of the people of Kurdistan.”
“It is with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham,” said Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani on X, highlighting the US Senator's legacy as “a friend of the Kurdish people” whose “unwavering support for the legitimate rights of the people of Kurdistan will always be remembered with deep respect by the people of Kurdistan.”
President Nechirvan Barzani shared similar sentiments, calling Graham “a valued friend of the people of Kurdistan.” “His advocacy and unwavering support for Kurdistan will always be remembered with gratitude,” he expressed in a heartfelt post on X offering his condolences.
In parallel, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stated the following tribute to Graham: “It is with deep sorrow and sadness that I learned of the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham. I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family, loved ones, and the leadership and members of the U.S. Senate. The people of Kurdistan will always remember his friendship and steadfast support.”
A staunch advocate for the Kurdish people, Senator Graham is most notably known for championing the Save the Kurds Act in late January whose legislation pushed for sanctions on Syrian government officials, financial institutions and foreign individuals who engaged with the Syrian government in response to the Syrian government forces’ repeated attacks on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria’s Kurdish region of Rojava.
The act motioned for “strong bipartisan support for the idea of protecting the Kurds in Syria and beyond” and warned of “bone-crushing sanctions” on Syria if its forces continued advancing toward the city, ahead of Kurdish forces’ withdrawal from Raqqa in January.
Senator Graham cautioned that “attacking the Kurds greatly diminishes the United States’ standing and will hinder Syria’s ability to grow as a country,” stating that attacks would not occur “without consequence.”
The act recognized the contributions of SDF forces who acted as a “strong ally” to the US and “took the brunt of the fight to defeat ISIS in President Trump’s first term.”
“They helped us when nobody else would defeat ISIS [Islamic State]. It would be dishonorable to abandon them,” Graham stated in an interview with Associated Press in October 2019 regarding President Donald Trump's decision to pull American troops from northeastern Syria and leave Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who fought alongside the US against ISIS.
The US-led coalition was formed in 2014 to combat ISIS which had controlled swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land but was territorially defeated in both countries by 2019. The coalition has supported Peshmerga in the fight against ISIS, trained them and equipped them with weapons.
In an October 2017 senate press release statement, Graham voiced concern for “ongoing developments in Iraq regarding reports that the Iraqi military and Shia militias are advancing on Kurdish interests around Kirkuk.”
In 2016, Graham, then chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs called for assistance to pay Peshmerga salaries.
In February 2022, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham led a bipartisan congressional delegation to the Kurdistan Region in which the US delegation reiterated that the Congress values the Kurdistan Region and that "they believe the relationship between the Kurdistan Region and the US should remain strong," the Kurdistan government press statement read.
Longtime Republican senator Lindsey Graham, 71, leaves a legacy of support for Kurdish people throughout his political career in which he began as a member of the House of Representatives in 1992 and later as a Republican Senator representing his home state of South Carolina in 2022. Re-elected in 2008, 2014, and 2020, Graham has also served in the US Air Force Reserves in which he saw deployments to Iraq prior to his retirement as Colonel in June 2015 after a 33-year service record.
