PM Barzani thanks US Senator Van Hollen for his consistent support to Kurds

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani thanked US Senator Chris Van Hollen for co-sponsoring a resolution commemorating Operation Provide Comfort in an online meeting on Tuesday.

On Oct. 21, two US senators—Chris Van Hollen (D, Maryland) and Marco Rubio (R, Florida)—introduced a Senate resolution hailing the “important partnership between the US and Iraqi Kurdistan,” as they marked the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort (OPC.)

Prime Minister Barzani thanked Senator Van Hollen for this and for his consistent support of the Kurds, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative office in the United States said in a press release on Tuesday.

Van Hollen and Rubio sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC). Van Hollen is a member of the subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism. Rubio, in addition to his role on the SFRC, is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Read More: PM Masrour Barzani welcomes introduction of US Senate resolution praising US-Kurdistan relations

During the meeting, Prime Minister Barzani thanked the United States for its support of the Peshmerga forces and called for more robust bilateral relations.

The Prime Minister and Senator Van Hollen also expressed their concern over the assassination attempt against Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Sunday and reiterated their commitment to a stable Iraq.

The two sides also discussed the outcome of the Oct. 10 Iraqi parliamentary elections as well as the ongoing security challenges facing the Kurdistan Region.

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States, joined  the Prime Minister in the online meeting.

In 1991, the United States launched Operation Provide Confront with the support of Britain and France. In addition to providing humanitarian aid to the Kurdistan Region, these three countries also established a no-fly zone against Saddam Hussein's air force over most of the region. The KRG mission in the US said that this allowed “the people of Kurdistan the breathing space to establish a parliament, government, and other institutions.”

Though the US aimed to limit Operation Provide Comfort to addressing the humanitarian crisis, it led to the creation of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq—with which the White House now considers itself to be in “a true strategic partnership.”

In a seminar marking the 30th anniversary of Provide Comfort, the President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani hailed Provide Comfort as the start of the Kurdistan Region’s current political system. Until October 2017, Masoud Barzani was a long-time president of that autonomous region.

Read More: Masoud Barzani hails Operation Provide Comfort, even as he warns of current dangers

Barzani also warned in April that “significant dangers” still exist, and, therefore, so does the need for the Western countries that now help protect the Kurdistan Region to continue that effort. 

Editing by Paul Iddon.