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President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani. (Photo: Archive)
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani has welcomed France’s initiative to begin talks with Syria’s leadership but called on Paris to consider the future of the Syrian Kurds.
Barzani made the comments during a meeting on Wednesday with Olivier Decottignies, the new French Consul General to Erbil.
A delegation of French Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) met with President Bashar al-Assad in Syria last week to discuss the ongoing conflict in the country as well as other regional developments.
“President Barzani expressed support for the initiative by [French] President Emmanuel Macron on Syria and conveyed his concerns and observations to [Decottignies and his accompanying delegation] about the situation and future of the Kurdish people in Syria,” a statement on the KDP leader’s website read.
Barzani also stressed that the factors which led to the emergence of the so-called Islamic State and its extremist ideology still exist and have not been addressed, the statement added.
For his part, Decottignies conveyed the greetings of the French president and foreign minister and “expressed his happiness about the stability prevailing in the Kurdistan Region and the start of the new government.”
During their meeting, the senior Kurdish leader thanked Macron and France’s foreign minister – whom he had met with in the past – for their “historical friendship” and said French-Kurdish relations would continue to grow.
The new Consul General met with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday where the two highlighted the positive relations between Erbil and Paris.
Decottignies replaces Dominique Mas as the new Consul General of France to the Kurdistan Region.
Related Article: France’s outgoing Consul General optimistic about KRG’s reform campaign
France played a pivotal role in easing tensions between Erbil and Baghdad following the Kurdistan Region’s 2017 independence referendum – which included territories disputed between the two administrations – with a majority voting for secession.
France is also an essential member of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State. Since 2014, the French government has provided humanitarian, logistical, and military support to the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi forces in the fight against the extremist group.