Italian Senate's President reiterates support for Kurdistan

The President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq hosted an Italian delegation Wednesday, headed by the President of the Italian Senate Pietro Grasso, in Erbil.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24, Agencies) – The President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq hosted an Italian delegation Wednesday, headed by the President of the Italian Senate Pietro Grasso, in the town of Pirmam, 30 kilometers north of the regional capital, Erbil.

According to a statement online released by the Kurdish presidency website, Italian Senate's President Grasso, who inaugurated Tuesday's opening of his country's consulate general in Erbil, commended the developing Kurdish-Italian ties.

Grasso told President Barzani that Italy will continue its military and humanitarian aid to the Kurdistan Region as the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group goes on. Grasso said his country will also support Kurdistan in the fields of public health and higher education. He said the opening of the Italian consulate general could be seen as the first step in that context, the statement read.

President Barzani, on the other hand, praised Italy's efforts in the war against the militant IS group and said that the Kurdish Peshmerga Forces "have shattered the IS myth." Barzani told Grasso that terrorism was a serious threat that should also be confronted ideologically as well as economically.

Italy is a member of the U.S.-led International Anti-IS Coalition. Although it has so far refused to join the air raids conducted in Syria and Iraq by the members of the coalition, the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, said in mid-December that his government would deploy 450 troops near the front line with Islamic State militants in Iraq to protect workers carrying out repairs to the Mosul hydro-electrical dam. Italy already has about 750 soldiers on a training mission in Iraq and Kurdistan, according to Reuters.

At the beginning of the month, a Kurdish diplomatic and military delegation headed by the Secretary of the Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry, Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar, visited Rome and met with the Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti and other officials.