President Nechirvan Barzani concluded a three day official visit to the United Kingdom on Friday, holding talks with the top echelons of the British establishment to strengthen ties between the Kurdistan Region and the UK. The trip, which came shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Erbil, is a testament to the triumph of Kurdistan diplomacy. “I want you to know that our friendship, our relationship with you, with the Kurdish public is of enormous importance,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Barzani on Friday. “We value that direct communication and the increasing economic relationship.” Barzani tried to reassure the British public and the British government that their intervention in the region in recent decades has not been in vain in the light of the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and the criticism leveled at the doors of the UK, US and other Western governments. “The debate over Afghanistan will rage but intervention in Kurdistan was a triumph for the UK and for common humanity,” Barzani wrote in an op-ed for The Times newspaper on Thursday. “Action in Iraqi Kurdistan by Britain, the US, France and others in 1991 saved hundreds of thousands of my countrymen from being killed by Saddam Hussein.” To drive his point home, Barzani met with former Prime Minister Sir John Major who played a critical role in 1991 in protecting Kurdish civilians by helping to establish the famous no-fly-zone enforced by London, Washington and Paris. In the spring of 1991, as the Iraqi army deployed helicopters to chase millions of terrified Kurdish civilians, the two main Kurdish leaders Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani tried hard to appeal to the world to save the Kurds. Major was one of those leaders who came to rescue. “The people of Kurdistan will never forget your, Britain’s and other countries compassion and friendship and always value your continued support and assistance,” Barzani told Major on Thursday. Earlier this year the Kurdish administration in Erbil named a street after Major as a token of gratitude. Despite facing a number of challenges at home, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the budget dispute with Baghdad, Barzani and other Kurdish leadership have been busy engaging with the region and the wider world. In recent months, Barzani has travelled to a number of world capitals including Paris, Tehran, Amman, Abu Dhabi, and now London to discuss regional issues and strengthening ties and the fight against terrorism. The Kurdish leadership and the Kurdish public, unlike most of the Middle East, see the West not as a foe but as a partner, in particular following the international coalition assistance given to the Peshmerga forces during the three year war with militants of the Islamic State (ISIS). UK fighter jets along other partners including the US, France and Canada carried out hundreds of air strikes in support of the Kurdish forces who fought ISIS. Nearly 2,000 Peshmerga lost their lives and more than 10,000 were wounded in the bloody battle with the terror group. When Macron was in Erbil last month, the Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, who still sees himself as foremost a Peshmerga, made sure that the French president met the family of a Peshmerga who was beheaded by ISIS in Mosul in 2015. During the ISIS blitzkrieg across parts of Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014, the Kurdistan Region opened its doors to hundreds of thousands of Yazidis, Christians and Muslims, both Sunni and Shia. This stands in vast contrast to the claims of numerous governments and regimes in Baghdad prior to 2003 that the Kurdistan Region was a source of instability in the country. The Kurdistan Region became a safe haven and at one point it hosted over one million refugees from Syria and displaced Iraqis that fled violence in the rest of the country. The Kurdistan Region has proven itself to be a responsible partner for the international community in a number of crises that have engulfed the Middle East. In its latest move, the Kurdistan Region welcomed 26 Afghan students to continue their education at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. “A significant moment for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq” the UK consulate in Erbil captioned a photo of Barzani and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on its Instagram account. “We are certain that the newly appointed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will not forget her first meeting and this meeting was with esteemed Nechirvan Barzani the President of the Kurdistan Region.” Truss said it was “great to see” Barzani in London and she “reassured him of [Britain’s] continued commitment” to the international coalition against ISIS, stability of the Kurdistan Region, upcoming elections, and the expansion of Kurdistan-UK ties. Barzani is a former Peshmerga turned politician and a respected diplomat seen by most political parties in Kurdistan Region and Iraq proper as a force for moderation. During recent crises in the Kurdistan Region, he has been a unifying force bringing both ruling parties and opposition parties together to hold talks to overcome challenges. He maintains good relations with a wide range of actors in the region including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf states. Barzani’s trip to the UK was a triumph for Kurdish diplomacy at a time that the Middle East region is facing a slate of crises. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
