Khatami: We Are Against A Unilateral Operation On Iraq

ISTANBUL - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said on Monday that they were against a unilateral operation on Iraq.
Speaking at the Seventh Heads of State and Government Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in Istanbul, Khatami noted that they were facing a threat again in their region and that they expected this issue to be solved with common sense.
Khatami said that terrorism had to be ended by using all sources in the world.
They had to live in peace, Khatami noted and stated that the world and their region was facing a very dangerous attempt those days.
Khatami said that the unilateral attempt was creating tension.
Stating that Palestinian people were facing new difficulties, Khatami said that the unilateral approach was of course a contradiction and it is an incident which contradicted with the United Nations (U.N.) charter and the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs of others.
Khatami said that free countries wanted to settle and maintain peace. To this end, he noted, they were against a unilateral operation on Iraq.
The U.N. had to play a very important role in this issue, Khatami stated.
Khatami pointed out that they had to protect territorial integrity of Iraq and sovereignty of Iraqi people and that international commitments and U.N. resolutions had to be abided by.
Khatami said that Iran wants world-wide terrorism problem to be sorted out, adding that all countries have to make cooperation to this end and act in line with the international rules.
Khatami said that the countries' mission has to be decreasing the tension in the world and overcoming the misunderstandings, clashes, cruelty and discrimination. Therefore peace will open the door of development, he stressed.
Iranian President Khatami also said that the economic and political elements and the developments in the information technologies lifted the borders among countries and turned these borders into cultural ones.
Khatami noted that the relations based on power will leave their place to the factors brought by age of information.
''The concept of partnership will develop instead of authoritarian regime. Globalization and regionalization do not have any threatening factor in our world. On the contrary, globalization and regionalization create new opportunities for development. Regional developments will create new opportunities by removing discriminations. Also, it will lead us to regional economic integration. As a result, we will settle peace and justice,'' he said.
Noting that the member countries to the ECO were aware of their responsibilities, President Khatami said that they, as ECO member countries, should cooperate for Afghan people.
He stressed that the fund which was decided to be formed for rebuilding of Afghanistan, should be put into practice as soon as possible.
Noting that trade ministers of ECO countries should come together to put forward targets for the next ten years, President Khatami said that existing resources in the region could be used in the best way only with cooperation among the member countries.