First Lady Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed Calls for Peace and Coexistence in New Year Message

Iraqi First Lady’s media office

Iraqi First Lady, Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed.

First Lady Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed issued a message of congratulations on the occasion of the New Year, stressing the importance of coexistence and harmony among the peoples of the region, as well as the realisation of the aspirations of the Kurdish people across all parts of Kurdistan.

First Lady’s message read:

“I welcome the new year with great hope and extend my warmest congratulations to all the people of Iraq.

As we bid farewell to 2025, with all its joys and hardships, we do not step into the new year without remembering and honouring the souls of our victims.

At the start of the new year, my thoughts remain with the victims of the natural disaster in Chamchamal. I hope that 2026 will ease some of their pain and suffering.

While Iraq moves towards the formation of a new government, the Kurdistan Region has regrettably spent the past year without a new government or parliament. I hope this period of institutional absence will soon come to an end and that the obstacles to forming a regional government will be overcome.

I also hope that the peace process in Türkiye will be concluded in the coming year and that peace will prevail across the region. I pray that our brothers and sisters in Western Kurdistan, who defeated ISIS — the greatest enemy of humanity — will enter the new year with dignity, security and peace, alongside all the people of that country.

I further hope that the people of Iran, particularly my brothers and sisters in Eastern Kurdistan, will be relieved of the hardships they continue to endure, especially inflation, economic pressures and difficult living conditions.

Sadly, the region has witnessed devastating conflict over the past two years, resulting in thousands of children in Gaza, Western Kurdistan and elsewhere being killed, injured or displaced. Our hearts are with them, and we hope the new year will bring security and calm to them, to the world and to all peoples.

In the year ahead, I hope prosperity, reconstruction and stability will prevail in our countries, and that we may all live in peace.

Once again, I wish you a happy new year.”


PUKMEDIA