Masoud Barzani

Masoud Barzani (born 16 August 1946) is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the President of the Kurdistan region from 2005 until 2017. The son of Kurdish nationalist leader Mustafa Barzani, he and his brother Idris joined Kurdish forces that fought the Iraqi government during the Iran-Iraq war. The Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by his family and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by future Iraqi President Jalal Talabani later split around Operation Provide Comfort, which granted Northern Iraq autonomy. This led to a civil war in Iraqi Kurdistan in the 1990s. In an unlikely move, he enlisted the help of Saddam Hussein's army to help drive the PUK out. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the KDP and the PUK established a unified regional government. After becoming President, he became an ally of the West, although his government was rampant with corruption allegations such as oil smuggling into Iran. He was accused of silencing critics, including Kamal Qadir, a Kurdish legal scholar with Austrian citizenship who was imprisoned for criticizing his government and family, and Sardasht Osman, who was murdered in 2010. He was also accused of persecuting minorities such as Assyrians, including denying them the right to vote and annexing historically Assyrian lands, among other accusations. After a referendum for independence that ended up in the Iraqi government taking control of the Kurdish-majority city of Kirkuk, Barzani resigned as Prime Minister, effectively handing power to his nephew Nechirvan.

Trivia

• He and his family have mansions in McLean, Virginia as well as Beverly Hills, California.