MNA – In a press conference in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan's prime minister declared his visit to Iran a success, insisting that no armed groups can use KRG territory as a base to attack neighboring countries.


Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani with his accompanying delegation visited Tehran yesterday January 21, 2018. During their visit the Kurdish delegation held meetings with Iranian high-ranking officials including President Rouhani, Speaker of the Parliament Ali Larijani, and Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.

At the press conference which was held after a cabinet meeting in Erbil on Monday, Nechirvan Barzani said “we should not make Iraqi Kurdistan a base for armed groups to attack neighboring countries and we also urge neighboring countries to respect the KRG territory.”

Regarding his visit to Baghdad and meeting with Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi before Tehran visit, Barzani said that it was a good meeting and they would meet again in Davos, Switzerland, adding they had not set a date for opening the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s airports.

Regarding governing the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil, he said neither Kurdistan region nor Iraqi central government can govern those areas alone and they brought up the issue in the meeting with al-Abadi.

In relation to Turkey’s aggression on Afrin in northern Syria, Barzani said "the situation in the city of Afrin is very worrying. We want the issue to be resolved peacefully and with the least harm to the people.”