Navigator
Facebook
Search
Ads & Recent Photos
Recent Images
Random images
Welcome To Roj Bash Kurdistan 

Barzani's visit to UK a triumph of Kurdistan's diplomacy

A place to post daily news of Kurdistan from valid sources .

Barzani's visit to UK a triumph of Kurdistan's diplomacy

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:09 pm

Image

President Barzani discusses strengthening of bilateral ties with UK’s foreign secretary

The UK’s newly-elected foreign secretary Liz Truss received Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Thursday, discussing the improvement of bilateral ties, according to a tweet from Barzani

    “I met with the new UK foreign secretary @trussliz for her first meeting as Britain’s top diplomat & congratulated her on her new position,” tweeted President Barzani.

    “We discussed ways to further improve our strong bilateral ties, UK’s support to KR, regional stability, along with other pressing issues,” he added.
Barzani arrived in London for a three-day official trip on Wednesday. He met with the UK’s Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace and a number of military officials as well as some members of parliament on the first day of his visit. He met with John McFall, Speaker of House of Lords on Thursday.

Truss was appointed as the UK’s new foreign secretary by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as part of his cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday. Her meeting with Barzani was her first meeting with a foreign leader as the new foreign secretary.

Truss, 46, is a graduate of economics at Oxford University and has completed a number of post-Brexit deals with countries.

“Strengthening trade ties and economic cooperation is at the heart of the UK’s Integrated Review, and these are areas the new Foreign Secretary has worked on closely whilst SoS [Secretary of State] for International Trade and as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. President Nechirvan’s timely visit to London remains a great opportunity to discuss these matters in more detail,” the British Consulate in Erbil told Rudaw English on Wednesday.

The UK has been an important ally of the Kurdistan Region for decades. Thirty years ago the United Nations Security Council declared a no-fly zone in the north of Iraq, providing a safe haven from the Baath regime that allowed Kurds to gain some autonomy. Sir John Major, then-Prime Minister of Britain, played a key role in securing the no-fly zone. An Erbil street was named after him in April.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/16092021
Last edited by Anthea on Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Good Thoughts Good Words Good Deeds
User avatar
Anthea
Shaswar
Shaswar
Donator
Donator
 
Posts: 28357
Images: 1155
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:13 pm
Location: Sitting in front of computer
Highscores: 3
Arcade winning challenges: 6
Has thanked: 6019 times
Been thanked: 729 times
Nationality: Kurd by heart

Barzani's visit to UK a triumph of Kurdistan's diplomacy

Sponsor

Sponsor
 

Re: President Barzani in talks with UK’s foreign secretary

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:25 pm

Image

Barzani’s trip to UK a triumph

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

https://www.rudaw.net/english/opinion/17092021
Good Thoughts Good Words Good Deeds
User avatar
Anthea
Shaswar
Shaswar
Donator
Donator
 
Posts: 28357
Images: 1155
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:13 pm
Location: Sitting in front of computer
Highscores: 3
Arcade winning challenges: 6
Has thanked: 6019 times
Been thanked: 729 times
Nationality: Kurd by heart


Return to Kurdistan Today News (Only News)

Who is online

Registered users: Bing [Bot], Google [Bot], Majestic-12 [Bot]

x

#{title}

#{text}