ABOUT MASOUD BARZANI
Affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, this Middle Eastern politician served as President of Iraq's Kurdistan region beginning in 2005.
He was born and raised in the Republic of Mahabad (present-day Iran).
As Kurdistan region President, he met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair , United States President George W. Bush , and the Kings of Saudia Arabia and Jordan.
He and his politician brother, Idris Barzani, were born to Kurdish Democratic Party leader Mustafa Barzani. He later fathered eight children.
Following the Gulf War defeat of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein , Barzani's Kurdish ethnic group re-established political control of Iraq's northern region.
