Arab-Kurdish dialogue: democracy and multiplicity allow for national unity

Deliberations of the Arab - Kurdish dialogue conference started in Cairo on Thursday. Politicians and intellectuals from various Arab states are taking part in the conference.

Chairman of the Egyptian solidarity committee Ahmad Hamroush said in a speech at the conference that a new phase has emerged to debate the Kurdish question under the slogan of maintaining "Iraq's unity." Hamroush asserted the need to preserve Iraq's unity, which contains in its borders both the Kurdish and Arab peoples.

For his part, chairman of the Kurdistani National Party Jalal al-Talbani stressed the inclination towards finding out a solution to the Kurdish crisis is not a "conspiracy" against Iraq, noting that Kurdish - Arab fraternity is the cornerstone for the unity of Iraq and to salvage it from attempts aimed at undermining its sovereignty.

In a message he sent to the conference Masoud Barazani voiced support for Arab - Kurdish relations, stressing a joint understanding formula to be reached by the two sides on the ground of preserving the unity of Iraq.

A statement released by the conference expressed the participants' support for international and public efforts to lift the suffering of the Iraqi people, both Kurds and other Iraqis and recognized democracy and multiplicity as a way to support Iraqi national unity.