Kurds want to live in peace with the nations of the region, KRG President Barzani says

ARBIL

President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government Massoud Barzani (3rd L) says the conference’s main message would be to live in harmony with the nations of the region at the preliminary meeting of the Kurdish National Conference on July 22 in Arbil. DHA photo

The main aim of the Kurdish National Conference planned to take place next month is to convey the Kurds’ will to live peacefully together with the Turkish, Arab and Persian nations, said Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Barzani said at the preliminary meeting of the Kurdish National Conference on July 22, convened to determine the date and participants of the conference to be held the following month, that the conference’s main message would be to live in harmony with the nations of the region.

“Our main aim is to deliver the peaceful cohabitation message, which comes as a joint demand and strategic togetherness from all the political factions of Kurdistan’s four parts, to the nations of the region,” said Barzani. “At this conference, we will tell the Turkish, Arab and Persian nations that the Kurdish nation wants to live together in peace and equality.”

Participants from Kurdish groups in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey, including groups affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK), attended yesterday’s meeting in Arbil; the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) in Iran and the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (PCDK) in Iraq, Syria and Iran.

The 21 participants from Turkey included the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) leader Selahattin Demirtaş and the co-chair of the Kurdish-umbrella organization, Democratic Society Congress (DTK), Ahmet Türk, who is also an independent deputy.

Barzani said they did not want hostility between the nations and instead sought a just solution to the Kurdish problem. He said a new era had started in which Kurds wanted a prosperous and economically developed region.

“The strongest weapon in the new era is the language of dialogue, peace and democratic methods,” said Barzani, adding that the armed struggle of the Kurds pursued in the past was because of the need to establish their national identities.

Previous Kurdish National Conferences have been held in Ankara, Diyarbakır and Brussels, with the latest one planned to take place in Arbil. A preliminary preparation meeting for a Kurdish National Conference was suggested by the PKK’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan and organized by Barzani, who also recently called for a high level of participation, Doğan news agency reported.