On Tuesday, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani spoke by telephone with the Netherlands’ Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, in which they condemned recent attacks targeting the Kurdistan Region.

Deputy Prime Minister Yesilgoz-Zegerius praised the ongoing reforms within the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs and reaffirmed her country’s support for the Peshmerga forces, particularly in the fight against terrorism and the threat posed by ISIS.

KRG Prime Minister Barzani underscored the importance of strengthening bilateral relations and expressed his appreciation for the longstanding cooperation in security and economic development.

On X, Deputy Prime Minister Yesilgoz-Zegerius underlined that “Iranian attacks and attacks by pro-Iranian militias undermine stability and create an unsafe situation. De-escalation is necessary for stability in Iraq and the region. Also relevant to our own security.”

On February 23, Yesilgoz-Zegerius was officially appointed as Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in the new cabinet of the Netherlands.

During a previous visit to the Kurdistan Region in May 2022, Yesilgoz-Zegerius met with KRG Prime Minister Barzani, during which she gave him a Delft Blue plate.

Yesilgoz-Zegerius was born in Ankara in 1977 to mixed Kurdish-Turkish parents, and came to the Netherlands when her father, Yucel Yesilgoz, a well-known criminologist from the city of Dersim (Tunceli), fled the 1984 military coup in Turkey.