The struggle to ensure one’s rights is often very tough, and there have been many times in human history when armed resistance was required in order to exercise these rights. However, we do not live in one of those times. The resistance movements of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela all revealed that major political victories can be achieved through peaceful means.
We must continue to struggle for our right to use our language, to celebrate our heritage, to have a voice in our governance and to be treated as equal citizens. These are all reasonable and defensible rights; however, we must not allow our actions in protection of them to overshadow or remove our dignity as we continue the struggle. We must agree to continue achieving recognition of these rights through peaceful means.
Many peaceful avenues are now available to us. Through the opening of Kurdistan to the international community since the fall of the former regime, our story is now being told all over the world. We now have 26 foreign representatives here in Erbil and 14 KRG representations abroad that all help bring international attention to these issues.
Hundreds of NGOs and other civil society institutions are already operating here in the Region. We have members of our Diaspora in democratic institutions and positions of influence around the world. Universities, academic institutions and international courts are open to us, and we have an active press corps, though it admittedly needs better training and an oversight body to ensure adherence to international standards of journalism.
All of these provide channels for action that will not undermine our struggle for international recognition and sponsorship of our rights.
d. Kurds everywhere need to work together as one to achieve rights and liberties for all our people, regardless of where they may live.
One of the oldest and most proven factors of political success is the strength of unity behind a common cause. As the old saying goes, “United we stand, but divided we fall.”
We must take this ancient but simple truth to heart. We must look beyond our own private circumstances, and even beyond those of our immediate community. If we can all learn to reach for something bigger, if we can learn to subject our own private ambitions for the good of our greater cause, then I believe we will find our goals to be both manageable and well within our grasp.
No matter what field you are in or what your expertise may be, I encourage you to be a force for unity. Lead the way through being an example of how we can work together, and challenge others to do the same.
3. Value and help from the Kurdish Diaspora
We have of course made much progress, but there is still much more that needs to be done, and we need your varied education and experience to achieve our goals.
We cannot do this alone, and this is why we have given such broad-based support for this congress. This is an excellent opportunity for us to explore how we can all learn and benefit from each other in order to move forward.
With this important event as an example, the KRG can and is doing much to ensure our collective progress. However, public resources are limited and our future growth will be guaranteed by the strength of the free market and the success of the civil society in Kurdistan.
We can use your assistance in both the public and private sectors, but the private sector is where the greatest impact can be made. There is an old saying that, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and there is nowhere that creativity and invention are given more freedom to evolve than in the private sector.
We are surrounded by “necessities” in nearly every sector. You do not need to wait for someone to tell you where you can make a difference; find an area that you can improve, and take the initiative to make it happen.
4. Specific areas of interest
Many of you have experience in vital are.as of our economy, and we encourage you to utilize your talents for our greater good.
Education
At a congress involving academics from a wide variety of sectors and backgrounds, it would be unforgivable of me if I failed to mention the significant efforts that can be made in this important field.
From spreading awareness through your daily involvement with students and colleagues, to writing papers, conducting research programmes and building links between our respective universities, the sky is the limit to how effective you can be in promoting unity and progress in a wide variety of sectors.
We are now partnering with a great number of international universities through our HCDP scholarship programme, and you could also help to contribute in this either through encouraging the participation of your own institutions, or through mentoring scholarship recipients as they live and work abroad, or both.
Agriculture
Though I will leave the details of this topic Minister Baban here, this sector is one of the most important areas that needs improvement both here in the Kurdistan Region and for the rest of Kurdistan as well. In addition to the tremendous political benefit of providing food security for our people, this sector also has the potential to provide a renewable source of income as well as many new jobs for our people.
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