Relations and Kurdish Diaspora Committee’s statement on visit of Pope Francis to Iraq and Kurdistan Region

We warmly welcome His Holiness Pope Francis on his visit to Iraq and Kurdistan Region.

As a messenger of humanity’s highest values, your visit will reinforce the message of peace and coexistence between different components of Kurdistan’s society and of brotherhood between leaders and followers of different religions in Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Region is a small community, but we have a rich and long experience of coexistence between different religious and ethnic communities that is embedded in the political and social culture of the diverse people of Kurdistan. This is a well-established principle of our governance, administration and policies.

The people of Kurdistan believe in peace, humanity and friendship. Previous governments of Iraq and even the genocidal Ba’ath regime’s chemical attack on Halabja and its Anfal campaigns in Garmian, Badinan and Barzan did not shake our belief in our principles.

We hope that all the world will live in peace and coexistence and that these values become embedded in the culture of all nations.