Rights of Christians will be protected in Kurdistan Region constitution: President Barzani

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani received the Vatican ambassador to Iraq in Erbil on Wednesday, where he said the rights of Christians will be protected in the Region’s constitution. 

“Christians are an integral part of the Kurdistan Region and play a significant role in serving, building, developing and fostering a culture of coexistence in the Kurdistan Region,” Barzani said during a meeting with Mitja Leskovar, according to a statement from the presidency.

“Guaranteeing the rights of Christians and other ethnic and religious groups will be protected in the new constitution that is being prepared,” he added.

The situation in Nineveh plains, refugees and IDPs in the region, Erbil-Baghdad relations, the coronavirus pandemic, and COVID-19 vaccinations were among other issues discussed between Barzani and the church delegation.

The Kurdistan Region does not currently have a constitution, instead governed by a series of laws, instructions and norms. 

In 2019, Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayaq called on Kurdish parties to unite and reach agreements before beginning to write a constitution. Work began on a draft constitution that year, but was later suspended.

Earlier this month, MPs were asked to re-submit their agreements and disagreements to parliament in order to restart work on the draft.

Barzani previously met with Leskovar during his three-day visit to Baghdad in April, when Leskovar gave him a letter of gratitude from Pope Francis.

The president also discussed the importance of the Catholic University in Erbil, founded in 2015 by Archbishop Warda, saying universities in the Region should connect with other institutions to “become a bridge of communication, promoting coexistence, forgiveness and acceptance.”

Ambassador Leskovar thanked the president for accepting Christian IDPs, thousands of whom fled to Erbil when the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked the Nineveh plains in 2014. 

“The Vatican highly values this culture of coexistence, forgiveness and mutual respect in the Kurdistan Region,” he said in his first official visit to the Region.

He also thanked the Kurds, officials and the president for the “warm welcome” extended to the pontiff, who visited Erbil as part of a historic visit to Iraq in March.

Pope Francis met with President Barzani and other senior Kurdish officials in Erbil on March 7.

After visits to Qaraqosh and Mosul later that morning, the pope received a rapturous welcome at Erbil’s Franso Hariri stadium, where he held mass for 10,000 people and extended a "heartfelt welcome to the Kurdish people."