Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) formally announced today that Safeen Dizayee, the former spokesman of the KRG, will serve as the head of its Department of Foreign Relations — in other words, as its de facto foreign minister.

Dizayee, a prominent member of former President Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is counted among the rare people who are trusted by the Barzanis as being loyal to the family rather than to a given influential individual within it. Dizayee is the son of Muhsin Dizayee, a scion of the eponymous tribe and one of Barzani’s closest advisers. Western diplomats have lauded Safeen Dizayee variously as reliable, discreet, gracious, humorous and open-minded. “He is a good diplomat and his English is perfect, and he speaks Arabic, Turkish and Farsi, which is a pretty good asset to have,” said a Western diplomat who worked with Dizayee. "He has deep experience and relationships in the region and beyond."

Dizayee’s appointment follows the establishment of a new Cabinet by the region’s new prime minister, Masrour Barzani. 

He replaced virtually all the Cabinet members in the previous government run by his predecessor, cousin and brother-in-law, Nechirvan Barzani, with new and relatively unknown faces. They include members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the second largest party in the Kurdistan Region after the KDP, as well as of the smaller Change movement. Minority Yazidis, Turkmens and women made it into the cabinet as well. Barzani was elected by parliament as the new president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Both have said repairing ties with Baghdad is their priority.