Following his visit to the Kurdistan Region last week, Lord Michael Ashcroft, writing for the Daily Express on Sunday, quoted his friend, Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister of Canada, in referring to the Kurdistan Region as “an oasis in … turmoil.”

Lord Ashcroft is an international businessman, philanthropist, author, pollster, Honorary Chairman of the International Democracy Union, and former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party in the UK.

He wrote that, within minutes of arriving in the Kurdistan Region, his perception of the region was transformed. 

“I saw a mass of luxury residential and commercial buildings, most of them less than 20 years old, and indications of wealth and economic prosperity at every turn. I soon discovered, too, that Kurdistan is rightly known for its tolerance of a wide range of political, ethnic, religious, and cultural groups, which happily co-exist throughout the region.

“For the past four decades, the Kurds in northern Iraq have built strong ties with the West, including Britain,” he added. “In 1991, during the First Gulf War, John Major, then [UK] Prime Minister, was credited with the introduction of the ‘no fly zone’ which created a safe haven for Kurds facing the prospect of new atrocities from Saddam Hussein’s forces. Indeed ‘Sir John Major Street’ is named in his honor in Erbil.”

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During his visit, Lord Ashcroft met several top Kurdish politicians, including President Masoud Barzani, who expressed concerns over the U.S. withdrawal from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on September 30. 

“I fear the scenario of 2014 may return,” President Barzani told Lord Ashcroft, referring to the rise of ISIS.

Lord Ashcroft also met with the Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who underlined that the region will be vulnerable to drone and missile attacks following the Coalition withdrawal. In August, Prime Minister Barzani’s office was targeted by drones.

“We are not after hand-outs or boots on the ground, but we are powerless and defenseless against air attacks. We are on our own in a hostile environment,” he told Lord Ashcroft.

Lord Ashcroft also met with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, who said that, after the Coalition withdrawal, “the Sunnis have a fear of the past, the Shi’as have a fear of the future, and the Kurds have a fear of the past, the present, and the future!”

“I hope that Kurdistan and its people, if and when the time is right, achieve the sovereign homeland that their courage, resilience, and patience deserve,” Lord Ashcroft wrote.