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Kurdistan
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and French President Emmanuel Macron at Elysee Palace in Paris on March 30, 2021. Photo: Kurdistan Region Presidency
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - France will continue the fight against terrorism and develop economic and social ties with the Kurdistan Region, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a letter sent to Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Thursday.
According to a statement, Macron in the letter expressed his gratitude for the “warm welcome” he received in Erbil last month. He added that France and the Kurdistan Region “have a historic and unmatched relationship that needs to be kept at a high level.”
The French president also expressed his delight in meeting Masoud Barzani and the family of Hujam Surchi, a Peshmerga who was killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015.
“Be certain that France will continue in the fight against terrorism, and also developing economic and social ties with you,” he added.
The letter comes a month after the French President visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Macron was in Baghdad last month to attend a regional summit bringing together nine Middle Eastern countries and France to discuss improving regional cooperation.
Following the summit, he visited the Kurdistan Region for the first time and met with local officials.
The visit came after President Barzani had in March visited Paris and met with the French president.
The relationship between Kurds and France goes back to the 1980s. Danielle Mitterrand, the first lady of France from 1981 to 1995, advocated for Kurds suffering under the regime of Saddam Hussein and was instrumental in campaigning for the no-fly zone that allowed the Kurdistan Region to develop its current autonomy. She was affectionately known as the “Mother of Kurds”, and inaugurated the first Kurdish parliament in 1992.
France was one of the first countries to open a consulate in the Kurdish capital of Erbil after the fall of Hussein’s regime in 2003 and played a critical role in helping Kurds both in Iraq and in Syria in the war against ISIS, including in supplying arms and training to the Kurdish forces.
According to a statement, Macron in the letter expressed his gratitude for the “warm welcome” he received in Erbil last month. He added that France and the Kurdistan Region “have a historic and unmatched relationship that needs to be kept at a high level.”
The French president also expressed his delight in meeting Masoud Barzani and the family of Hujam Surchi, a Peshmerga who was killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015.
“Be certain that France will continue in the fight against terrorism, and also developing economic and social ties with you,” he added.
The letter comes a month after the French President visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Macron was in Baghdad last month to attend a regional summit bringing together nine Middle Eastern countries and France to discuss improving regional cooperation.
Following the summit, he visited the Kurdistan Region for the first time and met with local officials.
The visit came after President Barzani had in March visited Paris and met with the French president.
The relationship between Kurds and France goes back to the 1980s. Danielle Mitterrand, the first lady of France from 1981 to 1995, advocated for Kurds suffering under the regime of Saddam Hussein and was instrumental in campaigning for the no-fly zone that allowed the Kurdistan Region to develop its current autonomy. She was affectionately known as the “Mother of Kurds”, and inaugurated the first Kurdish parliament in 1992.
France was one of the first countries to open a consulate in the Kurdish capital of Erbil after the fall of Hussein’s regime in 2003 and played a critical role in helping Kurds both in Iraq and in Syria in the war against ISIS, including in supplying arms and training to the Kurdish forces.
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