H.E. Massoud Barzani

H.E. Massoud Barzani

President

Autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan

H.E. Massoud Barzani is President of Autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. Following decades of persecution, displacement and neglect at the hands of regimes that ruled Iraq, particularly Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, President Barzani did not tolerate revenge or assaults on civilians, but used military force to protect the poor, displaced people, and Iraqi refugees. In February 2011, President Barzani received the Atlantic Award from the Italian Atlantic Committee and the Italian Delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly, for his role in promoting peace, stability, and religious tolerance in the region.