Jalal Talabani Quotes
Rather, it is through conciliation and compromise that we are building a fair Iraq, a just state for all its peoples.
Talabani, Jalal. Address to the United Nations General Assembly. United Nations, New York, 19 Sept. 2006. Speech.
This famous quotation, from this important address, at such a critical time in history has been admired for years. Despite his great oratory, the next months were to see almost 2 million Indians of all faiths killed in what was probably the worst internecine violence in human history. Ironically, the politically motivated terrorism had stopped since all the decisions had been made. The motivation for the frightful atrocities that took place from then on was vengeance and fear of more vengeance." 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
The statement was made just before Kenyan Independence was official. His statement was surprising to many people who perceived him as a racist and anti-white. There was a fear that whites would no longer be welcome in Kenya after independence, but Kenyatta’s leadership maintained a pluralistic society.
The quotation was made in the context of the Arab Israeli conflict, but the principle is general.
Mohamed Anwar El-Sedat. For a nation to be on a war footing diverts a huge proportion of its resources from development and raising the standard of living of the population. Nations like Costa Rica and Tunisia with not only peace but no army to maintain have been able to develop at much greater rates than their neighbors who supported military establishments.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
Jalal Talabani was a Kurdish politician who served as the sixth President of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq. He is known as Mam Jalal (uncle Jalal in Kurdish) amongst the Kurds.
