Supporters remember the late Danielle Mitterrand’s struggle for Kurdish rights

France (KRG.org) 28.11.2012 –  The late Danielle Mitterand’s commitment to the Kurds was celebrated and remembered at an international conference in the French Parliament on Friday.

The conference in the Assemblée Nationale was held to commemorate the death last year of France’s former First Lady and to pay tribute to her fight for universal values which remains as relevant as ever today.

Representing President Masoud Barzani, his Chief of Staff Dr Fuad Hussein explained in detail the construction and rehabilitation of schools by Danielle Mitterand’s NGO, Fondation France-Libertés. Dr Hussein said that the Kurdish people are committed to the struggle for universal values that were so much promoted by Mrs Mitterrand, who is affectionately known in Kurdistan as the Mother of the Kurds.

Dr Kendal Nezan, the President of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, recalled Mrs Mitterrand’s defence of Kurdish rights while they were being violated in the four parts of Kurdistan, at a time when many people were barely aware of the existence of the Kurds. She initially mobilised Western politicians at the first major international conference on the Kurds in Paris in 1989. She mobilized political authorities and NGOs to help the Kurds when Saddam Hussein was waging a genocidal campaign against them. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representative to France Ms Khaman Zrar Asaad, and Iraq’s Ambassador to France Mr Ferid Yassin, also attended the conference, which was entitled ‘In the footsteps of Danielle Mitterrand’ and was organised by Fondation France-Libertes. Speakers and participants included MPs, journalists, writers and celebrities who supported her causes in different parts of the world.