March is always a month of poignant and notable events for the people of Kurdistan, and this past month was all the more remarkable.

Besides the various anniversaries, including the birth and death of the legendary leader Mustafa Barzani, the anniversary of the genocide in Halabja, and Newroz the 21st, this year, the month of March heralded two significant visits and tough negotiations over the Iraqi federal budget, which was finally passed by the Iraqi Parliament today.

First, the visit of Pope Francis to Iraq and Kurdistan Region, which took place in early March. The historic visit took place in the middle of the pandemic and various security concerns. His Holiness described it as a pilgrimage of peace and called for ‘the weapons to be silenced’.

The visit was very much needed and a unifying moment for all the people of Iraq. His trip included meetings with Kurdish leaders in Erbil and a mass held at Franso Hariri Stadium with 10,000 worshippers. We hope that all sides will build on Pope Francis’s message of peace and fraternity and that we may have many more unifying moments ahead.

The other significant visit this month was that of President Nechirvan Barzani to Paris to meet with France’s President Emmanuel Macron, where President Macron reiterated his readiness to help Iraq achieve political and economic stability.

France is a key player in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and has had a strong relationship with Kurdistan since the 1980s when France’s First Lady, Danielle Mitterrand, played an active role in the formation of the Kurdish Institute in Paris.

Later she helped mobilize the French government to intervene in defense of the Kurds who were fleeing Saddam Hussein’s forces in March 1991 after an uprising against the dictatorship.

Her efforts, in parallel with those of others in London and Washington, led to a military-humanitarian operation that saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Kurds who feared Saddam Hussein would use chemical weapons against them.

In fact, this April, we will be marking the 30th anniversary of that intervention, known as Operation Provide Comfort, which was soon followed by the establishment of the no-fly-zone over Kurdistan. In many ways, the existence today of a stable, tolerant, and free Kurdistan Region in Iraq is a direct consequence of the humanitarian action by the United States, France, and Britain.

There will be events hosted in Erbil, Washington, London, and Paris to mark the anniversary of this extraordinary intervention in April and later this year.

Now, to the closely watched debates and arguments over the Iraqi federal budget. Months of negotiations, led on the KRG side by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, resulted in a draft law that recognized positions important to Baghdad and Erbil and achieved a reasonable compromise. 

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani today said, ‘This is a milestone moment for the KRG, from which we can start to recover from an era of unparalleled economic challenges. I thank the KRG negotiating team for their persistence through many months of hard work. I also thank Kurdish blocs in the federal Parliament for their efforts. This law was an accommodation and a necessary one for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. 

We did not get everything we wanted, but the law is consistent with key principles of the constitution from which we have not wavered.’

You can read about these and other events and meetings in our newsletter below.

Representative to the United States

Kurdistan Regional Government

This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Sherri Kraham Talabany as its guest. When Mrs. Kraham Talabany first heard about Kurdistan as an American university student, little did she realize that her life would be inexorably tied to the people of that land. Mrs. Kraham went on to work for the US government, which included working on Kurdistan and Iraq, and she married Qubad Talabani, who is today the KRG's Deputy Prime Minister. She now lives in Kurdistan, where she heads SEED, the NGO that she founded to help victims of violence and trafficking, including the Yezidis and other minorities.

The KRG Representative Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman joined Ambassador Fareed Yasseen, Iraq’s Ambassador to Washington, and Ambassador Matthew Tueller, the US Ambassador to Baghdad in a USIP panel discussion. The panelists shared their insights on the Pope’s first-ever visit to Iraq, examined the country’s current challenges, and explored areas where policymakers and the international community can support Iraq.

The Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in the United States hosted a virtual commemoration of the genocide in Halabja in 1988, which killed 5,000 people and wounded 7,000 to 10,000. The event, which marked the 33rd anniversary of the genocide caused by chemical weapons against the civilian population of the city, was broadcast live on Kurdistan 24 TV and social media and took place on Tuesday, March 16.

Every year we celebrate Newroz and the arrival of spring on March 21. But we had to celebrate afar this year because of the pandemic.

So we invited you to submit a video message answering what Newroz means or reminds you of?

The answer is in this video