Zeman thanks Kurdish head for fight against IS offers Czech help

Prague - Czech President Milos Zeman thanked President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani for the Kurdish contribution to the fight against Islamic State (IS) and offered all Czech support to him at their meeting in Prague today, Zeman´s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek told CTK.

He said Barzani showed interest in modern weapons for Kurdish units.

However, supplies of weapons were not discussed at the Zeman-Barzani meeting at Prague Castle, Ovcacek said.

In the past few months, Kurdish fighters managed to halt the offensive of radicals from IS in northern Iraq and ousted them from some areas they had controlled.

"The president had an opportunity to personally thank the president of autonomous Kurdistan for their significant contribution to the fight against the so called Islamic State," Ovcacek said.

At the beginning of the one-hour meeting connected with lunch, Zeman welcomed Barzani to Prague as "a hero of Kurdistan."

Zeman has long supported hard steps against Islamist terrorism and pushed for an international attack on the radicals´ training centres.

At the meeting with Barzani, he asked about the current situation in Kurdistan and the development of the fight against IS, Ovcacek said.

He said Zeman has offered any help the Czech Republic may provide to the Kurdish fight against international terrorism.

According to Ovcacek, Barzani said the Kurdish armed forces need more modern weapons.

"But no concrete arms supplies were discussed," Ovcacek said.

Last year, the Czech government donated redundant ammunition worth 41 million crowns to the Kurdish militias fighting Islamists in Iraq. They received ten million rounds of ammunition for Kalashnikov assault rifles, eight million rounds for machine guns, 5000 for bazookas and 5000 hand grenades.

Zeman and Barzani were originally to discuss economic cooperation as well, but in the end, the whole meeting focused on the developments in Kurdistan and the fight against Islamic terrorists, Ovcacek said