Last Sunday, Pope Francis, the leader of the world's Catholics, traveled to Erbil and was welcomed by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and other senior officials of the Kurdistan Region. At Erbil Airport, six stamp samples designed for his trip to the the region were displayed to the Pope.

One of the stamps featured a picture of the pope with a map of Turkey and Iranian Kurdistan as part of the Kurdistan Region, the release of which provoked reactions from the Turkish government and the Turkish Foreign Ministry as well as Iran foreign ministry. The two countries called it a dangerous mistake that needed to be corrected and called for an explanation from the regional government.

Jotiar Adil, the official spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government, said in response to the request that the projects on display were only proposals and that none of them had been approved by the government to be published.

He added that the project was also proposed by a regional artist and had no specific purpose, and that the government approved the proposals, taking into account the constitution and the sovereignty of Iraq and other neighboring countries.

Reporter's code: 50101