Dated statements and event programmes place this April briefing on firmer ground: a regional security appeal, meetings at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, and Warsaw’s Kurdish film festival. A separate academic programme clarifies the dates of the 2025 Kurdish Studies conference.

İsmail Beşikçi wearing a red sweater and standing between tall library shelves, with one hand resting near the books
İsmail Beşikçi at the foundation bearing his name in Istanbul, photographed by Pragdon on 13 January 2022. A documentary about the sociologist was programmed in Warsaw on 18 April 2026; this portrait predates that event. Pragdon · Wikimedia Commons · CC0.

18 April: a security appeal from the prime minister

Masrour Barzani’s statement of 18 April, reproduced in full by Kurdistan24, condemned drone attacks over the preceding days and said that at least five people had been killed and others injured. He called on Iraq’s federal government to act and asked international partners for equipment to protect people and civilian and energy infrastructure. [1] The figure was the prime minister’s account of a sequence of attacks; it was not a confirmed total for incidents occurring solely on 18 April. The statement documents both a reported human cost and a public request for protection. It does not by itself establish the circumstances or perpetrators of every individual strike.

18 April: Nechirvan Barzani meets Erdoğan in Antalya

The Kurdistan Region Presidency’s readout records Nechirvan Barzani’s meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on 18 April. It describes discussion of Türkiye’s cooperation with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, regional developments, stability and wider cooperation. The readout also reports support for dialogue as a way to address crises. [2] These were the presidency’s stated subjects and diplomatic messages. The published account does not announce a new signed agreement, and expressions of support should be understood in the context of that meeting.

17 April context: the meeting with Syria’s president

The previous day, the regional presidency reported a separate meeting between Nechirvan Barzani and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Their agenda included economic and trade relations between the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and Syria, the regional conflict, and the position of Kurds and other Syrian communities. The readout said Barzani welcomed efforts towards resolving the conflict and reaching an agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces. [3] This is evidence of the diplomatic discussion and the position communicated by the presidency. It should be distinguished from the terms of any integration agreement and from evidence of how arrangements were implemented on the ground.

18 April in Warsaw: a film about İsmail Beşikçi

The Wajda Film Centre’s programme dates Kurdish Sun in Spring Warsaw to 17–19 April 2026, organised with the Kurdish Studies Unit and Department of Iranian Studies at Jagiellonian University. Saturday 18 April was scheduled to feature Bizim İsmail / Our Ismail, directed by Fatin Kanat and Önder İnce, a 2024 documentary about İsmail Beşikçi. The planned discussion included Fatma Edemen, Cansu Yumuşak, Onur Yılmaz and Cem Koç, moderated by Karol Kaczorowski. [4] The programme places the film within an exploration of scholarship, art and solidarity under authoritarian conditions. It establishes what was scheduled, while a programme alone does not establish attendance or the content of the discussion that followed.

The academic calendar: a conference in April 2025

The Fourth International Conference of Kurdish Studies was scheduled for 22–23 April 2025 at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr in Erbil. The original programme names sessions on self-rule, language, religion, gender and other fields, with plenary speakers Hamit Bozarslan and Khanna Omarkhali. [5] An announcement published on 18 April 2025 can be confused with the dates of the conference itself. [6] Keeping publication and event dates separate preserves the actual academic calendar. This earlier event supplies historical context for Kurdish studies; it was not an event taking place on 18 April 2026.

Sources and further reading

  1. Kurdistan24, Kurdistan PM Barzani Condemns Deadly Attacks, Appeals for International Protection, 18 April 2026; complete text of Masrour Barzani’s dated statement.
  2. Kurdistan Region Presidency, President Nechirvan Barzani Meets with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 18 April 2026; official meeting readout.
  3. Kurdistan Region Presidency, President Nechirvan Barzani and Syrian President Discuss Regional Developments, 17 April 2026; official meeting readout.
  4. Wajda Film Centre, Kurdish Sun in Spring Warsaw, 17–19 April 2026, programme published 24 March 2026; Saturday screening and discussion participants.
  5. Fourth International Conference of Kurdish Studies, University of Kurdistan Hewlêr, 22–23 April 2025; original conference programme, Kurdish Institute of Paris.
  6. Kurdish Institute of Paris, conference announcement dated 18 April 2025, specifying the 22–23 April event.