Falah Mustafa Bakir
فەلاح مستەفا بەکر
Foreign Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan
In office
September 2006 – 2019
Prime MinisterNechervan Barzani
Preceded byPosition created
Personal details
Born04/02/1964
Erbil, Iraq
Alma materUniversity of Mosul University of Bath Kennedy School of Government
CabinetCabinet 5-9

Falah Mustafa Bakir (Sorani Kurdish: فەلاح مستەفا بەکر; born 1964) is a Kurdish politician from Kurdistan Region, Iraq serving as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to President Nechirvan Barzani with a ministerial rank.

He was appointed to this position in August 2019, after having served as (Minister) the first Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) from 2006 to 2019.

Falah Mustafa and Secretary Kerry Following His Arrival in Iraq
Ömer Çelik, Minister of European Union Affairs of Turkey, with Kurdistan Regional Government Head of Foreign Relations Falah Mustafa Bakir.

Early life and education

Lord Howell meeting Falah Bakir Mustafa

Falah Mustafa Bakir was born in Erbil in 1964. He obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Mosul, his graduate degree in Development Studies at the University of Bath, and a senior manager's executive program certificate at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is fluent in Kurdish, Arabic, and English.

Foreign Minister of the KRG

Bakir and Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in June 2015.

In 2006, he created the Kurdistan Department of Foreign Relations, and he has served as its Foreign Minister since then[1][2] after taking the role in September 2006.[3]

In September 2016, he remained Kurdistan Regional Government's minister of foreign relations. That month he asserted that "if we reach an agreement with Baghdad (on statehood), there may not be a need for a referendum."[4]

In October 2016, he stated publicly that the Peshmerga were suffering casualties due to a lack of air support.[5]

Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt meeting Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, Kurdistan Regional Government, Department of Foreign Relations in London, 15 June 2010.

He is a frequent guest lecturer at Salahaddin University in Erbil.[1][2][3]

Personal life

He is married and lives with his wife and four children in Erbil.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Kurdistan Regional Government: Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir - Head of the Department of Foreign Relations". Archived from the original on 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  2. 1 2 3 "Department of Foreign Relations: Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, Head of the Department of Foreign Relations". Archived from the original on 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  3. 1 2 VIP Lunch in honour of Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, Middle East Association, October 16, 2013
  4. ↑ "Kurdish foreign minister: 'We are suffering from lack of sovereignty'", RUDAW, September 17, 2016, retrieved April 3, 2017
  5. ↑ "KRG FM: Peshmerga have not received the air support that was expected", RUDAW, September 17, 2016, retrieved April 3, 2017
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