ROME– In a rare Middle East success story, the Kurdish Regional Government today carries more diplomatic weight than many members of the UN, its High Representative to Italy, Rezan Kader, says.

  Iraqi Kurdistan’s leaders are busily consolidating their prosperity, the legacy of decades of struggle for autonomy, and consolidating KRG relations with Italy are a top priority for the fledgeling entity as it flexes its economic muscles with direct export of petroleum via Turkey for the first time, Dottoressa Kader told the Italian Insider. “We are trying every day to do more to have more friends from every direction, in 360 degrees,” she said in an interview .

 “Today Kurdistan is considered an example in the Middle Peace of coexistence between a mosaic of different peoples and religions. The recipe is civilised cohabitation.”

 The Kurds’ friendship with Italy dates from Italian’ troops and aviators’ involvement in the liberation of Iraq  and Rome’s military commitment to the West’s ousting of the dictator Saddam Hussein. Italian companies are now reaping the benefits of participating in the demise of Saddam alongside British and American forces.

 In London last year Kurdish representatives attended the memorial service held at St. Bride’s Chruch for the untimely death of my colleague Richard Beeston, the Times Foreign Editor, who as a young reporter witnessed the Kurds’ darkest hour in the aftermath of the Halajba massacre 22 years ago. As recently as 2010 Beeston wrote in The Times that “as the Iraq war comes under new scrutiny and more voices argue that Saddam should have been left in place, it is worth sparing a thought for those thousands of innocent Kurdish men, women and children who died in the deadliest chemical weapikns attack on civilians in history.”  

 Dssa Kader, who herself studied at Turin University, stressed that “We have excellent relations with Italy as with all European countries. But Italy is our largest commercial partner in Europe, unsurprisingly since Made in Italy products are excellent,” she says. A striking example of Italian investment in Kurdistan is the design by the engineering companies FG Tecnopolo and Studio Galli of the metropolitan railway in the city of Suleimaniyah. Studio Galli has carried out numerous assignments for the KRG ministries of transport, communications and electricity rebuilding essential infrastructure.

 “When we liberated Kurdistan we liberated a country that was almost completely destroyed. There was nothing to reconstruct it with. We needed everyone’s help and love for us. The door of Kurdistan was always open for those who participated in the liberation of Iraq.”

 Cultural ties with Italy also are being fostered to use Italian expertise to safeguard, preserve and conserve the extraordinary archaeological heritage of the KRG. “We have already signed an agreement with the University of Perugia and bilateral agreements with the Veneto Region and Udine.”

 Florence’s city and university also have archaeological projects in Kurdistan. The KRG’s Department of Foreign Relations has made an agreement with the Italian Society for International Organization for the training on courses of  future Kurdish diplomats.

 Dssa Kader points to her own appointment as an example of how Kurdistan spearheads women’s rights in the Middle East. “As a woman in the Kurdistan region you can dress as you want, go where you want, choose who you marry and study where you want.”

 She also pours scorn on criticism by NGOs such as Human Rights Watch over the murder of a young journalist, Zardash Osman, and the death in police custody of a poet, Irfan Ahmed Mohammed.

 “Kurdistan is famed for its respect of human rights. Our country is targeted by enemies who try to exaggerate very small incidents. In Italy many people die in police custody, from heart attacks. The Kurdish Government is continuing to investigate what happened in these isolated cases. In our country poets are very much loved.”  

 Against this background, the KRG is determined to retain its hard-won autonomy from Baghdad. “We are doing everything we are allowed to do within the new Iraqi constitution to create a new epoch. If the central government doesn’t like that it is their problem. We must grow. We can’t wait for the decisions of Baghdad.”

. “We don’t buy F-16s with petroleum like the rest of Iraq and we seek friends abroad.” Italy has agreed to provide 300,000 euros to the KRG refugee assistance.

“We know what it means to be made homeless and to have to escape under bombardment. Unfortunately these people came en mass, it was not gradual.”

 While retaining its proud Peshmarga heritage, Kurdish forces have no intention of becoming embroiled in the Syrian conflict, she underlines. “We never intend to interfere in the internal affairs of any country. We know that through dialogue everything is obtainable. It is no longer the time to fight.”

 “Of course we will not allow Kurds be maltreated any more in countries where there are still Kurds. We want to be united.”  

 A new relationship with Turkey developed by the Erdogan Government has played a crucial part in the new Kurdish era of peace. “Turkey is a our gateway to the West, a great friend of the Kurdish people.”

 Trade between Turkey and Kurdistan amounts to as much as some dlrs 2 billion a year.

 “We are always concerned if turbulence affects our neighbours. We hope that the waters will calm, that Turkey will also have peace. Turkey is a great friend and a great partner, and also a NATO country.”

Despite their remarkable progress, the KRG leaders have no immediate ambitions to cut their ties with Baghdad completely, Mrs Kader adds.

 “Everything must be at the right time. Today we want to stay within a federal Iraq. Of course one day Kurdistan will become independent and will have total autonomy. Everyone wants to own their own home. But to maintain stability in the region and for the future of Iraq we decided to stay in Iraq.” Kudish politicians play a crucial role in Iraqi affairs, with Kurds serving as the Iraqi Foreign Minister and a deputy prime minister.

 “We hope to help do for Iraq what has been done for Kurdistan,” the High Representative says, “to create peace for all the peoples of the whole of Iraq.”