“I think Britain has to stand up for the rights of the Kurdish people. The Kurdish people have got every right to their own country, to autonomy,” Ian Austin told Rudaw’s Alla Shahly.
Austin visited the Kurdistan Region during the 2017 referendum. He described the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as a “beacon” to the rest of the region, and a “country and a government that we should be doing everything we can to support.”
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani arrived in London on Wednesday for a three-day trip.
He met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday. On Thursday, he met with Speaker of House of Lords John McFall and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, and he met Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace the day before. His meetings focus on reaffirming and expanding security cooperation and economic ties.
“I want to see much closer bilateral ties between the UK and Kurdistan. I want to see the two countries - and I say country - working much more closely on business, creating jobs, prosperity,” Austin said.
“I think there are things we can do to help the Kurdish people: training officials, helping support members of parliament, training judges, closer links when it comes to industries like film or agriculture, which is so important to the people of Kurdistan. I want to see Britain do everything it can to support the Kurdish people,” he added.
The UK has been an important ally of the Kurdistan Region for decades. Thirty years ago, former British premier Sir John Major played a key role in declaring a no-fly zone in the north of Iraq, providing a safe haven from the Baath regime that allowed Kurds to gain some autonomy. An Erbil street was named after him in April.
The UK has helped to train the Kurdish Peshmerga during the war on ISIS and is part of a team of international allies working on major reforms of the Peshmerga ministry. In January, the UK launched a training program for judges in both Baghdad and Erbil.
