President Masoud Barzani receives French President Emmanuel Macron

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), President Masoud Barzani, received on Sunday French President Emmanuel Macron and an accompanying delegation.

Barzani thanked France for supporting the Kurdistan Region and Peshmerga forces in defeating the ISIS terrorist group, according to a statement from the Kurdish leader's office.

“ISIS could not take away [peaceful coexistence] from the Kurdish people and was not able to gain a foothold inside the Kurdish community,” the statement quoted Barzani as saying.

He also welcomed President Macron’s support for development efforts in Iraq.

From his end, President Macron expressed his desire to “affirm the friendship and respect,” between the French and Kurdish people, and France’s commitment to the fight against ISIS.”

“The Peshmerga forces fought heroically against ISIS, and became a source of inspiration,” Macron said, according to the statement. “This was a reminder that foreign aid will not prevail without brave fighters on the ground.”

Barzani explained ISIS remains a serious threat and that the underlying conditions that gave rise to the terrorist group remain unaddressed.

Both officials expressed their hopes that the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary election “will represent a symbol of hope, change, and a way of achieving the people’s will.”    

The Kurdish leader also expressed to the French president his concerns about the situation of the displaced people of Sinjar (Shingal), the Ezidis, and the future of Kurds in Syria.

At the end of the meeting, President Barzani presented Macron with a Peshmerga statue as a symbol of the sacrifice of the people of Kurdistan in the fight against terrorism. The French president, in turn, gifted Barzani a symbol of the French Republic.

The Kurdish official then accompanied Macron on a visit to meet the family of the martyr Hojam Surchi and a female unit of the Peshmerga forces.