Bulgaria–Kurdistan Region relations

Bulgaria–Kurdistan Region relations are bilateral relations between Bulgaria and the Kurdistan Region.[note 1] Bulgaria is represented in Kurdistan Region through a commercial office in Erbil since 2014,[1] while Kurdistan Region has no representation in Bulgaria. In 2012, Kurdish President Massoud Barzani travelled to Bulgaria on an official visit and met with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.[2] In May 2017, President Barzani met with President Boyko Borislov on an official visit to Bulgaria.[3]

Bulgaria–Kurdistan Region relations

Bulgaria	Kurdistan Region

Early ties with Communist Bulgaria

In 1959, Bulgaria and Iraq signed an cultural agreement, allowing Iraqi students to study in Bulgaria.[4] 190 Kurds of Iraq studied there.[5] In the early 1960s, the Bulgarian government uttered support for Kurdish rights and meant that Kurds had a right to exist and to practice and develop their national culture. Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani visited Bulgaria in 1960.[6]

Bulgaria expressed support for improved relations between the government of Iraq and the wider Kurdish population of Iraq, and applauded the Kurdish declaration on 2 November 1963, which expressed a peaceful resolution with Baghdad. In the early 1970s, ties between Kurdistan Region and Bulgaria strengthened, beginning with a visit by a Bulgarian Agrarian National Union-delegation led by Georgi Andreev to Kurdistan. The delegation met with Mustafa Barzani who stated that Bulgaria and the other socialist European counties had healthy ties with Kurdistan Region. In July 1970, a Kurdistan Democratic Party delegation led by party secretary Habib Karim visited Sofia after being invited by the Fatherland Front, while a delegation from the Fatherland Front led by Gruda Atanasov visited Kurdistan Region to visit Mustafa Barzani in October same year. A KDP-delegation also attended the Fatherland Front congress of April 1972, where the delegation leader Darik Kamil Akrayi said that they were trying to expand relations between the two "countries" on the basis of anti-imperialism. In October 1972, a delegation from the Bulgarian Communist Party travelled to Iraq and visited the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Kurdish region. In this period, Bulgaria continued giving scholarships to Kurdish students, thus supporting the creation of a Kurdish intelligentsia that would lead the Kurdish struggle for liberation.[7] According to Bulgarian historian Nadia Filipova, the Kurdish resistance in Iraq was not a major issue for the Eastern bloc.[6]

Strengthening of ties and Bulgarian aid

In 2008, Kurdistan Region imported small arms and ammunitions from Bulgaria without Iraqi consent. While Kurdish officials argued that Kurdistan needed weapons to fight Islamists, Bulgaria declined to comment on the shipment.[8] Later on, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Dragovest Draganov denied that this transaction ever took place,[9] while the Kurdish government denied it as well.[10] In 2012, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Simeon Djankov visited Kurdistan to develop the cooperation in especially financial, cultural and agricultural sectors.[11] In 2013, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov visited Kurdish Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani in Erbil.[12] In 2014, Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy Krassin Dimitrov visited Erbil to strengthen bilateral relations and to pave way the opening of a Bulgarian consulate in the region.[13] Later that year, when ISIS invaded Iraq in summer 2014, Bulgaria decided to send military aid to the Kurdish soldiers (Peshmerga). The aid constituted of gun machines and cartridges worth 6 million lev.[14] In 2015, Foreign Minister of Kurdistan Region Falah Mustafa met the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov at Globsec 2015, expressing a will to deepen the ties.[15] Mustafa and Mitov held a meeting at Globsec 2016 as well.[16]

References

1. "Trade and Economic Section of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria". Retrieved 13 April 2017.
2. "President Barzani on Official Visit to Bulgaria". 30 March 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
3. "Barzanî li Bulgaristanê referanduma serxwebûnê kire rojev" (in Kurdish). Rudaw. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
4. Bulgaria Today - 8. Sofia Press Agency. 1959. p. 27.
5. Anna Krasteva (2005). Имиграцията в България (in Bulgarian). p. 141.
6. Nadya Filipova / Надя Филипова (2008). Българската дипломация в Египет, Сирия и Ирак във врем. p. 160.
7. Dimitŭr Konstantinov Kosev (1979). Bŭlgariia v sveta ot drevnostta do nashi dni / България в света от древността до наши дни (in Bulgarian). Bŭlgarsko istorichesko druzhestvo. pp. 472–475.
8. "Kurds in N. Iraq Receive Arms From Bulgaria". Washington Post. 23 November 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
9. "Bulgaria 'Didn't Sell Arms to Kurd Rebels'". BalkanInsight. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
10. "Bulgaria and Kurdish Government Deny Arms Sales Deal". Kurdishaspect. 24 November 2008. Archived from the original on 3 January 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
11. "Head of DFR welcomes Bulgarian Deputy PM". DFR. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
12. "Българският външен министър похвали Иракски Кюрдистан" (in Bulgarian). Novinite. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
13. "Bulgaria determined to solidify their presence in Kurdistan". DFR. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
14. "България е изпратила на кюрдите в Ирак автомати и патрони за 6 млн. лева" (in Bulgarian). mediapool.bg. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
15. "Kurdistan Region and Bulgaria seek to strengthen ties". DFR. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
16. "Minister Mustafa concludes three-day visit to Slovakia". Kurdistan Regional Government in Poland. Retrieved 14 April 2017.

Notes

1. While Kurdistan Region refers to the autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan is a geographical term referring to the Kurdish area of Iraq. They are therefore not identical, though most of Iraqi Kurdistan is incorporated in Kurdistan Region.