On Friday morning, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot presented a letter written in 1967 by the late General Mustafa Barzani to President Charles de Gaulle, which had been preserved in the archives of France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. 

According to the readout, President Barzani thanked the minister and described the letter as a valuable document affirming the depth and continuity of friendship between the peoples of Kurdistan and France.

Minister Barrot also conveyed President Emmanuel Macron’s greetings to President Barzani and reaffirmed the strength of Franco-Kurdish relations, France’s friendship, and its continued support for the people of Kurdistan. 

Read More: Mustafa Barzani's Plea to de Gaulle: Cease Arming Iraq

In the letter, General Barzani, the renowned Kurdish nationalist leader, urged the French leader not to supply arms to Iraq in the late 1960s, arguing that sending arms to Iraq without acknowledging its brutal treatment of the Kurdish people “would only lead to still further destruction of our country and to the massacre of our women and children.”

 Yesterday, during a joint press conference with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, Minister Barrot quoted General Barzani’s words to General De Gaulle: “Understand that for us, a marginalized and endangered people, suffering from a prolonged and brutal conflict, you are the sole international entity capable of offering us the principles for a fair and peaceful resolution.”

“In honor of our shared history, France will always support the people of Kurdistan in their quest for rights,” Barrot told reporters.

Also on Friday, Minister Barrot posted on X after concluding his anti-ISIS mission visit in Erbil, noting that the valiant Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi federal army repelled the attacks of ISIS, and that France’s army “relentlessly lead this fight as part of Operation Chammal.”