Kurds: our objective is confederation
Iraq-Regional, Politics, 5/28/1998

Leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan national federation yesterday called on Baghdad to offer the Kurdish area in northern Iraq large-scale self rule should the Iraqi leadership desire to end the separatist movement in the region.

In a speech he delivered before the conference of the Arab - Kurdish dialogue which started deliberations in Cairo on Wednesday, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Jalal al-Talibani said, "The Kurdish people have chosen the federal system, which, we think, the right way to preserve Iraq's unity."

Talibani added that the coming of Iraqi Kurds to Cairo seeking a just solution for their cause does not mean that they are preparing a colonialist conspiracy against Iraq, adding it is just a sincere Arab attempt to enable Iraq to get rid of a problem that has besieged it.

Meanwhile, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud al-Barzani, who did not attended the deliberations, said in a message read on his behalf to the conference that, "Confederation is the ultimate objective for the Iraqi Kurds."

Writer Ahmad Hamroush, chairman of the non-governmental solidarity committee, said the symposium which is the first of its sort aims at "establishing good relations between the Kurds and the Arabs" and to clarifying the problems surrounding the Kurd issue.

He added, "We think that democratic relations between the Arabs and the Kurds constitute the ground for Iraq's unity and independence," noting that Cairo had witnessed one hundred years ago the birth of the first Kurdish daily named Kurdistan.

Previous Stories:
  Iraq delegation heads to Tehran   (5/28/1998)
  Kurdish - Arab discussions start today in Cairo   (5/27/1998)
  UN coordinator meets Kurdish delegations   (5/27/1998)

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