KRG-US Rep. confident new Kurdistan Region leadership will promote international relations

OTTAWA (Kurdistan 24) – Under new leadership, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will continue to promote positive relations with international allies and partners, according to Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the KRG Representative to the United States.

Speaking to Kurdistan 24 in the Canadian capital of Ottawa last week, Abdul Rahman underlined her confidence in the leadership of both Nechirvan Barzani and Masrour Barzani to push forward diplomatic ties with allies abroad.

Over the past month, the KRG elected Nechirvan as its new president and Masrour as prime minister-designate to form the government’s new cabinet.

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“President Nechirvan Barzani has always looked outward in terms of our diplomatic relations, and my understanding is that Kurdistan’s top diplomat, if you like, under our system is, in fact, the president of the region,” Abdul Rahman told Kurdistan 24.

“I’m confident that President Nechirvan Barzani will continue to foster great relations with our allies and partners.”

On Masrour’s election as PM-designate, Abdul Rahman noted that he “has always put a great store on [the Kurdistan Region’s] relations with our partners overseas” and he considers such relationships and partnerships “as critical to Kurdistan’s future and our stability.”

“It’s an exciting time for [the] Kurdistan Region, and I hope we will very soon see visits to America and Canada by our leaders,” she stated.

Abdul Rahman was on a trip to the Canadian capital to attend a screening of Gwynne Roberts film “One Yezidi Family vs ISIS” at the Wellington Building near Parliament on June 17.

The Canadian Parliamentary Friends of the Kurds, an all-parties caucus dedicated to cultivating dialogue and forming stronger parliamentary ties with the KRG, organized the event.

The film follows an Ezidi family at a camp in the Kurdistan Region as it copes with the aftermath of a brutal genocide at the hands of the so-called Islamic State. Roberts’ film raises many concerns, the main one being the future of vulnerable groups like the Ezidis.

Abdul Rahman encouraged members of the US-led coalition, including Canada, which supported the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga, to understand “the situation on the ground.”

Over the past few years, Canada has opened its doors to thousands of Ezidi refugees. Although Abdul Rahman said she would like to see them remain in their homeland of Sinjar (Shingal), she is aware “that for many of them, they see [migration] as the only option.”

“For us, it’s important that countries that offer them asylum should understand what it is that drove those people away from their own homeland, from their own families,” she told Kurdistan 24.

“Political leaders in countries where life is more comfortable, those political leaders should understand what it is that drives people to leave everything behind.”