BAGHDAD,— Iraq has approved a request to rename Sulaymaniyah International Airport in the Kurdistan Region after the late Kurdish leader and former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a government spokesperson said Tuesday. The decision follows an official request submitted by the President Jalal Talabani Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to archiving the works, writings, and political legacy of Talabani. He was elected as Iraq’s president in 2005, becoming the first Kurd and the first non-Arab to hold the office. He later fought in armed campaigns during the 1960s, before turning to negotiations with Baghdad in the 1990s that helped secure autonomy for the Kurdistan Region after the 1991 Uprising. His supporters in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region continue to regard him as a central figure in the struggle for Kurdish rights and in Iraq’s political development.