French President Emmanuel Macron had to switch to English at his Paris press conference with Nechervan Idris Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The conference had been interrupted several times due to translation problems.

The event was plagued by a series of translation glitches, with the French president eventually halting the presser and saying in English: “The Prime Minister perfectly understands English, but I think it will be strange to have here the president speaking in English for making this press conference. But I am pretty sure Paris could organize a translation for the Prime Minister.”

But after the Kurdish official was finally given headphones for translation from French, and Macron gladly resumed his speech, the press conference was soon halted by the French president once again. This time around, Macron said he had an impression that a number of journalists gathered during the event failed to understand French.

“Listen, I think we can organize a translation system that works after all,” Macron said, near to losing his temper. “Is there anyone out there who can fix it?”

Trying to resolve the communication problem himself, the French president adopted the manner of a teacher talking to his pupils. He asked journalists in the room to raise their hands to signal which language they can actually speak.

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“Who can speak neither French nor Kurdish?” he wondered. “Who can speak neither French nor English?”

“People who need to understand must understand,” he concluded.

On Saturday, Macron called on Bagdad to dismantle all militias, including the Iraqi government-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), backed by Iran. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities accuse Shiite PMF fighters of human rights violations and abuses against Kurds.

“It is essential that there is a gradual demilitarization, in particular of the Popular Mobilization that established itself in the last few years in Iraq, and that all militias be gradually dismantled,” he told the press conference, Reuters reported.