French president to facilitate dialogue between Iraqi government and Kurds

2 December 2017: Macron met Saturday in Paris with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani, amid a political and military standoff between the self-ruled northern Kurdish region and Baghdad since an independence referendum for the region.

In a joint news conference with Macron, Barzani said he is "ready to discuss" with Baghdad and agrees on a shared control between Kurdish and Baghdadi authorities over Iraq's borders with Turkey and Syria.

Last month, Iraq's top court paved the way for the Kurdish region to step back from its controversial independence referendum and annul the vote's results that overwhelmingly backed secession from Iraq.