Error occured during this request! Please try again later.
COVID has kept British MPs cooped up at home and none could pay their regular visit to the Kurdistan Region to catch up on key developments and examine how to further bolster the bilateral relationship between Kurdistan and the UK.
But the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) organised a virtual delegation consisting of senior MPs Robert Halfon, Feryal Clark (a Kurd from Turkey), Alicia Kearns (a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee), and Jack Lopresti MP.
They met the Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, the Foreign Minister Safeen Dizayee, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistani Parliament, Dr Rewaz Faiaq and Hemin Hawrami respectively, and Dlawer Al’Aldeen of the Middle East Research Institute.
The MPs have produced a joint statement which says that “COVID is convulsing the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, which is dangerously reliant on oil, demand for which may fade longer term. Fundamental economic transformation is vital in Kurdistan.”
They urge a more reliable and just relationship with Iraq and conclude that more British political, public, and private engagement can help equip it for the future for the mutual benefit of its people and UK interests.
Robert Halfon, the APPG Chair, a former senior minister and now Chair of the influential Education Committee, and I produced a longer report. That is because we were the only ones able to take part in all the online sessions.
The Zooming into Kurdistan report outlines the detail of what we heard from our witnesses and goes into more detailed analysis of the internal and external problems facing Kurdistan as well as the opportunities.
All that came before COVID is now seen as ancient history, it sometimes seems, but I would say a key point is to remind UK parliamentary and public opinion that it is only three years since the liberation of Mosul.
The Peshmerga were the toast of the world which recognised they had done so much to defeat Daesh. It bears repeating that if the Kurds hadn’t resisted, Iraq, the Middle East, and the world would have faced a much longer and more miserable conflict with the death cult.
My conclusion is that we needed the Kurds then and we will continue to need a strong Kurdistan Region as the Middle East learns to cope in a world with less use for its oil. And not to allow the transition to new ways of earning a crust to be exploited by extremism. I hope that the reports offer a rich menu for MPs and policy-makers until we can finally return to Kurdistan in real life.
Gary Kent is the Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), a Fellow of Soran University, and Deputy Chair of the European Technology and Training Centre in Erbil. He writes this column for Rudaw in a personal capacity. The address for the all-party group is appgkurdistan@gmail.com.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
But the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) organised a virtual delegation consisting of senior MPs Robert Halfon, Feryal Clark (a Kurd from Turkey), Alicia Kearns (a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee), and Jack Lopresti MP.
They met the Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, the Foreign Minister Safeen Dizayee, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistani Parliament, Dr Rewaz Faiaq and Hemin Hawrami respectively, and Dlawer Al’Aldeen of the Middle East Research Institute.
The MPs have produced a joint statement which says that “COVID is convulsing the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, which is dangerously reliant on oil, demand for which may fade longer term. Fundamental economic transformation is vital in Kurdistan.”
They urge a more reliable and just relationship with Iraq and conclude that more British political, public, and private engagement can help equip it for the future for the mutual benefit of its people and UK interests.
Robert Halfon, the APPG Chair, a former senior minister and now Chair of the influential Education Committee, and I produced a longer report. That is because we were the only ones able to take part in all the online sessions.
The Zooming into Kurdistan report outlines the detail of what we heard from our witnesses and goes into more detailed analysis of the internal and external problems facing Kurdistan as well as the opportunities.
All that came before COVID is now seen as ancient history, it sometimes seems, but I would say a key point is to remind UK parliamentary and public opinion that it is only three years since the liberation of Mosul.
The Peshmerga were the toast of the world which recognised they had done so much to defeat Daesh. It bears repeating that if the Kurds hadn’t resisted, Iraq, the Middle East, and the world would have faced a much longer and more miserable conflict with the death cult.
My conclusion is that we needed the Kurds then and we will continue to need a strong Kurdistan Region as the Middle East learns to cope in a world with less use for its oil. And not to allow the transition to new ways of earning a crust to be exploited by extremism. I hope that the reports offer a rich menu for MPs and policy-makers until we can finally return to Kurdistan in real life.
Gary Kent is the Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), a Fellow of Soran University, and Deputy Chair of the European Technology and Training Centre in Erbil. He writes this column for Rudaw in a personal capacity. The address for the all-party group is appgkurdistan@gmail.com.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment