SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Bafel Jalal Talabani said on Wednesday he was saddened by the passing of former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright.
Albright, who fled the Nazis as a child in her native Czechoslovakia during World War Two then rose to become the first female U.S. secretary of state, died on Wednesday at the age of 84.
“We are sad to hear the news of the death of a great diplomat and an old friend,” Talabani said in a statement.
Talabani added that Albright had played a “key role” in bringing the Kurds closer and in ending a civil war between the main two Kurdish parties in 1998 agreement.
He reiterated that she “has always been alive in our memory”.
Albright served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1993-1997 in U.S. President Bill Clinton’s administration. He then nominated her to become the first female secretary of state and she served in that role from 1997-2001.
She is known among Kurds due to her role in mediating reconciliation talks between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
The two parties entered a civil war in 1994. After years of war, Albright was able to bring together PUK secretary-general Jalal Talabani and KDP leader Masoud Barzani in Washington in 1998. The two leaders signed a historic peace agreement the same year.
