document · Interview
Masrour Barzani (Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq) — interview with The National, 5 Feb 2026: the KRG mediated between Damascus, the SDF and the US/France over Syria's Kurds, urging the new Syrian government to "lead and not be led" and enshrine Kurdish rights in the constitution; presses intra-Kurdish unity ("Elections should matter") and resolving Erbil–Baghdad oil/budget disputes constitutionally.
English 
Iraq 2026-02-05 Tier 2 — primary or translation
Politician: Masrour Barzani
Original source: https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/02/05/masrour-barzani-advocates-constitutional-reform-and-sustainable-solution-for-syrias-kurds/
Content
— We were in direct contact with both Damascus and also Qamishli and also with the United States, with France, with many countries that were playing a part in mediating and trying to calm the situation
— lead and not be led
— Elections should matter English translation
[Source is English (The National interview, Dubai, 5 February 2026); editorial context, not a translation. The dash-prefixed lines are the verbatim quoted fragments confirmed against the fetched page.] Declared positions of Masrour Barzani — Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq and a senior figure of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). (1) On the KRG's MEDIATION role in the Syria crisis: "We were in direct contact with both Damascus and also Qamishli [the SDF base] and also with the United States, with France, with many countries... mediating and trying to calm the situation" — positioning Erbil as a regional stabiliser with balanced ties (Baghdad, neighbours, the US) while avoiding entanglement in US–Iran escalation. (2) His advice to Syria's new government under Ahmad al-Sharaa to "lead and not be led" by negative elements and to enshrine Kurdish rights in a future Syrian constitution, backing gradual integration of the Kurdish-led SDF into the Syrian state. (3) "Elections should matter" — pressing rival Kurdish blocs to unify behind a single nominee for the Iraqi presidency through a transparent vote. As PM he frames Erbil–Baghdad relations around "securing the financial entitlements of the people of Kurdistan" and respect for the constitution, casting the September 2025 resumption of Kurdish oil exports as the basis for a constitutionally sound relationship with Baghdad. This is the KRG EXECUTIVE / federalist-Kurdish-rights pole (autonomy; financial and constitutional entitlements; cross-border Kurdish advocacy in both Iraq and Syria) — distinct from, and complementary to, Region President Nechirvan Barzani's earlier document. [Axes: federalism (Kurdish autonomy / constitutional rights in Iraq and Syria), regional-stance (balanced ties; regional mediation), economic (KRG budget / oil entitlements), regime/state-structure.]
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In-text
(Barzani, 2026) Barzani, M.. (2026). Masrour Barzani (Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq) — interview with The National, 5 Feb 2026: the KRG mediated between Damascus, the SDF and the US/France over Syria's Kurds, urging the new Syrian government to "lead and not be led" and enshrine Kurdish rights in the constitution; presses intra-Kurdish unity ("Elections should matter") and resolving Erbil–Baghdad oil/budget disputes constitutionally.. thenationalnews.com. Retrieved July 28, 2026, from https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/02/05/masrour-barzani-advocates-constitutional-reform-and-sustainable-solution-for-syrias-kurds/ Barzani, Masrour. 2026. "Masrour Barzani (Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq) — interview with The National, 5 Feb 2026: the KRG mediated between Damascus, the SDF and the US/France over Syria's Kurds, urging the new Syrian government to "lead and not be led" and enshrine Kurdish rights in the constitution; presses intra-Kurdish unity ("Elections should matter") and resolving Erbil–Baghdad oil/budget disputes constitutionally.." thenationalnews.com. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/02/05/masrour-barzani-advocates-constitutional-reform-and-sustainable-solution-for-syrias-kurds/. @misc{doc-document-2340456f-e2a1-41d6-a46b-7c074a27ff7e,
author = {Barzani, Masrour},
title = {Masrour Barzani (Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq) — interview with The National, 5 Feb 2026: the KRG mediated between Damascus, the SDF and the US/France over Syria's Kurds, urging the new Syrian government to "lead and not be led" and enshrine Kurdish rights in the constitution; presses intra-Kurdish unity ("Elections should matter") and resolving Erbil–Baghdad oil/budget disputes constitutionally.},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-02-05},
howpublished = {Online; hosted at thenationalnews.com},
url = {https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/02/05/masrour-barzani-advocates-constitutional-reform-and-sustainable-solution-for-syrias-kurds/},
urldate = {2026-07-28},
note = {Retrieved via Tayyar at https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/documents/2340456f-e2a1-41d6-a46b-7c074a27ff7e},
} Retrieved via Tayyar: https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/documents/2340456f-e2a1-41d6-a46b-7c074a27ff7e on July 28, 2026. Tayyar is a research host for primary sources, not the author of this document.