Held on the main campus of American University, the conference was attended by well over 200 participants from the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East. The conference focused on analyzing key political, economic and cultural issues confronting the Kurds and the region of Kurdistan in global context, as well as on exploring a diversity of viewpoints on reconciliation among Kurdish factions and coexistence between the Kurds and the peoples and states of the Middle East.
Peace is the base or foundation for all issues among the peoples and communities of the region.
Professor Edmund Ghareeb followed with an analysis of the visionary leadership role of Mustafa Barzani in promoting Kurdish cultural and political rights. Kendal Nezan, President of the Kurdish Institute of Paris. The panel was moderated by The Honorable Richard Murphy, Senior Fellow for the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations. Their budding success in the world arena has been hard won, through an epic and painful learning process. Dr. Andrew Parasiliti of Harvard University and Rend Rahim Francke of the Iraq Foundation spoke on the controversial topic of sanctions policy, with Dr. Parasiliti arguing that sanctions hurt only the Iraqi people and Ms. Francke arguing that the effect of sanctions are positive in Iraqi Kurdistan.