Rome  – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi flew to Baghdad to meet Iraqi officials Wednesday and pledged Europe will not “turn its back” on the massacres of civilians by Islamist ISIS militants in Iraq.

Renzi made the trip to Baghdad in keeping with Italy’s role as the current rotating presidency of the European Union, telling Iraqi counterpart Haider Al Abdi that “the integrity of the region and of Iraq is fundamental for the stability of the entire area.”

 “If anyone thinks Europe will turn its back on the massacres in Iraq they are mistaken or else they have mistaken semester,” the Italian prime minister said, meaning that Iraq will be a top EU priority during Italy’s six-month presidency.  “Europe must be present in Iraq at the moment or it is not Europe,” he added.

 From Baghdad Wednesday Renzi was travelling to Erbil for a meeting with Masud Barzani, president of the regional government of Kurdistan during which he was expected to brief the Kurdish leader on Italian plans to provide weapons for Kurdish forces.

 Renzi’s trip marked the first visit by an Italian prime minister to Iraq since Giulio Andreotti went to Baghdad in 1978. “Italy has become a player again in crisis areas,” Renzi said recently, “from Libya to Ukraine and Iraq.” Italy must no longer merely follow other countries’ policies, Renzi has told aides.

 Nevertheless Renzi was criticized by the opposition M5S and Forza Italia parties for making the lightning trip to Iraq rather than waiting for a meeting that was held Wednesday of the joint foreign affairs and defence committees of both houses of Italy’s parliament at which Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini and Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti briefed MPs on the coalition governments plans to provide arms and ammunition to Kurdish forces fighting ISIS.

Mogherini told MPs that “immediate military aid to Iraq is indispensable” since “the lives are at risk of Christian, Yazidi and Muslim civilians. It is a political and above all moral duty to respond to a humanitarian drama.”

 Isis represents “a threat not only to Iraq, but for the entire region, for Europe and for the whole world,” she added.

 Renzi’s trip, decided only two days ago, also is seen by the Italian foreign ministry as part of  an ongoing campaign by Rome to keep Italy’s international profile high to help Mogherini to become the new EU High Representatative for Foreign Affairs, replacing Britain’s Baroness Ashton.

 Pinotti told MPS that Italy is ready to provide “light automatic weapons and ammunition” to Kurdish Peshmerga forces.” The Italian defence ministry has said it is considering sending some 23,000 AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles to the Peshmerga that Italy confiscated as part of UN sanctions during the Bosnian war in 1994.

 The Italian Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Pierferdinand Casini said Renzi’s ruling coalition spearheaded by the prime minister’s Democratic Party was solidly behind the arming of the Kurds and no vote on the decision by a full session of the Chamber of Deputies was necessary.  

 Before he left for Iraq Renzi had a series of telephone conversations with international leaders including U.S. President barack Obama and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Italian foreign ministry said.