Madani Meets Iraqi Kurdistan’s President and Prime Minister Renews Condemnation of Oppression and Displacement of Yazizdis

Date: 15/01/2015

The President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, H.E. Masoud Barazani, received the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Ameen Madani, on Wednesday 14 January 2015. Both sides discussed bilateral cooperation and the state of affairs in Iraq, in the light of terrorist incidents taking place in many regions of the country. President Barazani stressed that the Iraqi Kurds were proud of their nationality and affiliation to Iraq and expressed appreciation to the OIC. He said that the OIC was capable of uniting the Muslims and giving assurance to the Iraqi Kurds. He also lauded the OIC’s weight and importance as an umbrella institution of the Muslim ummah that is also able to support cooperation. He praised the OIC’s efforts in the political, humanitarian and cultural fields. For his part the Secretary General assured President Barazani of the OIC’s readiness to provide more assistance to the region in the face of the humanitarian crisis facing more than 1.5 million refugees and displaced persons both within and outside Iraq. He stated that the needs had necessitated the putting in place of practical mechanisms for providing assistance to victims from the various segments of Iraq, including Yazidis, Kurds, Christians, Turkmens, Arabs, Sunnis or Shiites. He stressed further that the OIC was supporting Iraq as a united, stable and prosperous country. On a related occasion, the Secretary General met with H.E. Nechervan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government, and discussed with him issues of cooperation and coordination, particularly the current situation and how to minimize the humanitarian crisis the region was facing because of the flow of refugees and displaced persons. The Prime Minister warned about the consequence of the crisis escalating at the political, security, social and economic levels in the country. Ambassador Hisham Yusuf, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, presented a summary of the OIC’s humanitarian relief efforts and their prospects for the future. In a related event, the Secretary General met the deputy representing the Yazidi Sect in the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament, Sheikh Shamu Namu, who briefed him on the tragic situation of the Yazidis in Iraq following the developments going on in the country. Madani at the meeting renewed the OIC’s sympathy with the Yazidis and condemnation of their expulsion and of all the acts of oppression, killing and incarceration they face. He assured them of the OIC’s support for Iraq’s ethnic, religious and sectarian diversity and for the country’s unity and stability.

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