President Barzani Receives from France’s Foreign Minister the Historic Barzani Letter to Charles de Gaulle

Welat TV – Erbil

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot handed President Masoud Barzani a copy of a rare and historic letter written by the immortal leader Mulla Mustafa Barzani, during his visit to the Kurdistan Region and his meeting with President Barzani in Pirmam, near Erbil, on Friday, 6 February 2026.

The letter, sent by Mullah Mustafa Barzani to the late French President Charles de Gaulle, had been preserved in the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has now been returned to Kurdistan as a document reflecting the depth of historical ties between the Kurdish and French peoples, and revealing at an early stage the scale of suffering endured by the Kurdish people.

Under the title “Barzani Writes to de Gaulle,” the French newspaper La Dépêche Du Midi published the text of the letter, which the immortal Barzani opened with a striking question: “Has the Kurdish people become less important to you than the Vietnamese people?” The document highlights that Mulla Mustafa Barzani was among the world’s longest-standing resistance leaders, having been engaged in the Kurdish struggle for more than thirty-three years.

Throughout this period, he led a fierce battle in defense of his people’s legitimate rights and their right to dignity and survival. In his letter, the immortal Barzani affirmed that the Kurdish people were subjected to grave crimes, including mass killings and acts of extermination against women and children, warning that the political and oil interests of certain states were being used to conceal these atrocities.

He also expressed concern over the relations at the time between France and Iraq, cautioning that they could result in Baghdad being supplied with weapons used against the Kurds. Barzani called on the French government to condition any arms supplies to Iraq on a formal commitment that such weapons would not be used against the Kurdish people. He also referred to humanitarian appeals launched by relief committees within France in solidarity with Kurdistan and the afflicted Kurdish population.

In his letter dated 8 February 1968, Mulla Mustafa Barzani addressed President de Gaulle as a symbol of freedom and the liberation of peoples, stressing that France — which had offered the world the principles of liberty and the right to self-determination — could not ignore the struggle of the Kurdish people.

He warned that continued arming of Iraq without a just resolution to the Kurdish issue would only lead to further destruction and bloodshed. He concluded the letter with a powerful symbolic reference to a saying from the Holy Quran: “Every man has a small sky above him that may turn into a prayer,” adding, “You and France represent the sky in our sky,” expressing his hope that France would stand as a true supporter of the Kurdish cause.

For his part, President Masoud Barzani expressed his gratitude to the French Foreign Minister for the initiative, describing the letter as a valuable historical document and clear evidence of the deep-rooted friendship and enduring relations between the Kurdish and French peoples.