June was a busy month on the diplomatic front for the Kurdistan Region after a lull in high-level international visits due to the pandemic.

The month began with visits by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani to Belgium, Flanders, and Greece where he met with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Belgium), Minister-President Jan Jambon (Flanders), and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (Greece). They discussed bolstering bilateral ties, the joint fight against ISIS, and ways to strengthen trade and investment.

President Nechirvan Barzani visited the United Arab Emirates to meet Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Al Nahyan reiterated his country’s support to the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and expressed the UAE’s readiness to develop bilateral relations, while President Barzani congratulated the Sheikh on the UAE’s election to the United Nations Security Council in 2022-2023.

The President also visited Jordan where he was received by King Abdulla II at Al-Husseiniya Palace. President Barzani noted the historic relations between Jordan and the Kurdistan Region and reaffirmed the importance of developing and expanding Iraq’s and the Kurdistan Region’s relations with Jordan.

John Godfrey, the US Acting Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, visited Erbil this month and met with the Kurdistan Region’s leadership to discuss the ongoing fight against ISIS. The KRG emphasized the need to establish an effective coordination mechanism between Iraq’s Federal Army and the Peshmerga Forces, with the support from the Coalition, to permanently eliminate ISIS, especially in areas where there is a security vacuum.

The KRG is committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS and has always stood against terrorism and extremism. We appreciate the support of the United States and other Coalition partners.

A growing security concern in Kurdistan and Iraq as a whole is the use of drones by militias to attack Kurdish targets as well as Coalition forces and their facilities. The US and all Coalition forces are in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government and to assist Iraqi forces, including the peshmerga, in the fight against ISIS. The militias’ attempts to destabilize Kurdistan will be resisted by all means possible and we ask our friends in Iraq and internationally to stand by the people of Kurdistan.

Rob Waller is ending his tenure as US Consul General Erbil. The Kurdistan Region thanks Mr. Waller for his service and dedication to the US-Kurdistan partnership. Robert Palladino, formerly chief-of-staff of the US Deputy Secretary of State, will take up the post of Consul General. I met with Mr. Palladino to congratulate him, offer my assistance, and wish him success in Kurdistan. 

We also offer congratulations to Nadine Maenza who has been appointed Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Ms. Maenza, who was previously a commissioner at USCIRF, is no stranger to Kurdistan and Iraq and has visited the region many times, meeting with representatives of different faith groups. 

Ms. Maenza is the guest of our monthly Kurdistan in America podcast, and we are delighted that the podcast series has been listed in the top 20 government relations podcasts by Welp Magazine, a digital magazine aimed at business managers. You can see the list here: Welp Magazine Ranking

Lastly, I was honored to attend a luncheon with my dear friends and colleagues from various parts of Kurdistan to discuss common interests. Thank you to the Washington Kurdish Institute for organizing the timely event. 

You can find the link to the podcast and a wide range of news in the newsletter below.

Representative to the United States

Kurdistan Regional Government

This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to host Ms. Nadine Maenza as our guest. Ms. Maenza currently serves as the Chair of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad.

Ms. Maenza discusses USCIRF's key recommendations on Iraq, the Iraq chapter of USCIRF's 2021 Annual Report, as well as her views on the Sinjar Agreement, the situation in Nineveh Plains, Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, and the ongoing conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). She also talks about her experience visiting the Kurdistan Region and personal views on the people of Kurdistan.

According to the Kurdistan Region's Anti-Narcotics Directorate, more than 80 kilograms of drugs have been seized by authorities at the Haji Omaran border crossing with Iran so far this year. Additionally, in 2020, 550 kilograms of drugs were seized in the Kurdistan Region, and 1,133 drug dealers were arrested.

 

Colonel David Williams, the Director of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) Kurdistan Coordination Center (KCC), speaks with Kurdistan 24 TV about the unification of the Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga forces.

The Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) visited villages in Duhok province's border areas on Sunday to monitor the destruction (of) caused by (Turkish) Turkey's cross-border incursions. The organization focuses on violence-reduction and human rights in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. They collect data about the area and deliver it to international organizations.

Six months after they fled their homes in northern Duhok because of clashes between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group of villagers returned and found their homes had been looted, their belongings stolen or destroyed.