H.E. Barham Salih, Prime Minister, Kurdistan Regional Government, Republic of Iraq
Prime Minister Barham Salih was born in Iraqi Kurdistan. He joined the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in 1976 while it was still an underground movement and was arrested twice by the Iraqi secret police (the Mukhabarat). He was forced to take his high school finals while in prison, but achieved the highest grade possible in all Iraq that year and came third in the whole country. He received a BSc in civil and structural engineering from the University of Cardiff and gained a PhD in statistics and computer modeling from the University of Liverpool.
In 1985, Patriotic Union leader Jalal Talabani (now the first democratically-elected president of Iraq) called upon Dr. Salih to serve as the movement’s spokesman in London.
From 1991 to 2001, Dr. Salih served in Washington, DC as the Patriotic Union and Kurdistan Regional Government representative to the US.
On January 21, 2001, he assumed the premiership of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Sulaimani. The main features of his platform were the need to revitalize the Kurdistan region to create an open, pluralistic society and develop civic culture, the empowerment of women, educational and social reforms, freedom of expression, and creating an environment in which a free media can exist. He is a leading advocate of a strong Kurdish role in shaping the new democratic Iraq.
Dr. Salih was the target of an assassination attempt by the Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, Ansar al-Islam, in April 2002. Five of his assistants and body guards lost their lives during the attack.
Dr. Salih and the Kurdistan Regional Government worked closely with the US during preparations for Operation Iraqi Freedom and provided full support for joint US-Kurdish operations to expel Ansar al-Islam from its enclave in Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurdistan Regional Government forces served under US command and with US troops helped liberate Iraq. Kurdish forces continue to work closely with the US-led coalition in Iraq, and provided intelligence that led to the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and intercepted the “Zarqawi letter” in 2004.
Dr. Salih served as deputy prime minister in the Iraqi Interim Government from June 2004 until May 2005. He had special responsibility for economic affairs. After being elected to the Transitional National Assembly of Iraq during the historic January 30, 2005 elections, Dr. Salih joined the Iraqi Transitional Government in May 2005 as minister of planning.
Elected again during the December 15, 2005 elections to the Council of Representatives (Iraq’s permanent parliament), Dr. Salih was called upon to join the Iraqi Permanent Government in May 2006 as deputy prime minister.
Dr. Salih is married to Dr. Sarbagh Salih, a biologist who is also a women’s rights activist. They have a daughter and son.
