Kurdish rebel leader Mustafa Barzani met with the later Austrian Foreign Minister Bruno Kreisky in 1957 in Moscow.[5]
Ties between Austria and Kurdistan Region intensified in the 1970s when Austria granted asylum to Kurdish refugees from Iraq. Kurdish representative in Austria Mustafa Ramazan Goran stated that: "During these difficult times throughout the 1980s, the Austrian government never wavered in their support."[6] As the new leader of Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani visited Vienna in 1979, where he escaped an assassination attempt.[7] During the general elections of 1992 in Kurdistan Region, Austria sent a high-ranking delegation to observe the elections.[8]
Kurdish President Masoud Barzani has met the Austrian President Heinz Fischer on three occasions in Vienna; in 2011, 2014 and in 2015 on official visits.[10][11][12] Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz visited Erbil in 2015 and 2016 to boost ties and humanitarian aid.[13][14]
Kurdish Foreign Minister Falah Mustafa meets his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz in 2015
^While Kurdistan Region refers to the autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan is a geographical term referring to the Kurdish area of Iraq