PARIS, France — Kurdish President Masoud Barzani and his French counterpart Francois Hollande met in Paris, where they discussed the fight against ISIS, the Mosul offensive, the future of the Kurdistan Region, and the countries’ bilateral relations. The leaders spoke about their talks in a joint press conference on Tuesday evening from the Elysee Palace.
Barzani said he came to Paris to thank France for its humanitarian contributions to Kurdistan during the fight against ISIS.
“I came to primarily thank Mr. President [Francois Hollande] for his humanitarian position for the people of the Kurdistan Region who reached out to help us in difficult times,” said Barzani.
“We talked about the fight against ISIS and the mechanism of assisting each other and how they will be supporting the Peshmerga.”
Hollande said that Peshmerga provided security in the areas they had liberated, adding that he was happy to meet with Barzani again in Paris, and that the two capitals have enjoyed good relations.
Hollande talked about the fight against ISIS, adding that France supported Kurdistan when its security was at stake in 2014. Hollande added that within the context of the US-led coalition, France is willing to eradicate ISIS, adding that an international coalition is needed to do so.
Hollande said that he has visited the front lines, where he witnessed Peshmerga forces providing security to the people of the liberated areas.
Hollande was questioned about the referendum in the Kurdistan Region, but declined to comment on the referendum or independence, citing the desire to not comment on things that have not yet happened.
It was Barzani’s fourth official visit to Paris. Hollande has visited Erbil twice — the first in 2014 after Kurds turned ISIS back just kilometers away from Erbil and the second just two months ago after ISIS had been largely forced out of Kurdish territories.
Commenting on the meeting Barzani explained “Our talks were very friendly and [they were] quite close to each other.”
Hollande echoed the friendly sentiments.
France was one of the first countries to open a consulate in the Kurdish capital Erbil after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, and it was one of the first nations to come to the assistance of the Kurds when they found themselves at war with ISIS two years ago.
Barzani’s next foreign visit will be to Ankara, Turkey, where he will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Turkish media. The two last met in August 2016 in the Turkish capital.
Barzani met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim last week on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
