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Istanbul, Oct 14, IRNA -- Iran's President Mohammad Khatami here Monday urged members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to expand cooperation in their efforts toward development, stressing that development and peace complement each other.
Khatami, addressing the ECO Seventh Summit, said any step toward development is also a step to establish peace, and that any step toward peace will in turn open a new door onto development.
He also lashed out at unilateral policies regarding world issues, saying unilateralism contradicts the UN Charter, the tenets governing international relations, and the principle of avoiding interference in domestic affairs of world nations. |
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Khatami further added that unilateralism will never be acceptable to free societies who advocate coexistence and a peaceful life together.
He refreshed Iran's opposition to any unilateral measure against Iraq and a military interference in the country, stressing UN's role to solve the crisis.
Khatami further underscored the right to self-determination of the Iraqi people, and said the fate of the country must be decided through democratic means and by the Iraqi people, themselves.
He said Iran's basic policies regarding the Iraqi crisis have always been to respect the Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity based on international commitments, to fully implement UN resolutions, and to advocate the return of international inspectors to Iraq.
"The Islamic Republic completely understands that the need to fight terrorism is a 'vital need for everybody'," Khatami said.
"However, this fight should be based on law and the idea of peace that requires to be coordinated and promoted through the cooperation of all countries, and within the frameworks of international protocols."
The Iranian president further called violence and terrorism as evil and inhumane phenomena, and said the world must work together to obliterate them, and to set the stage for the establishment of peace, justice and liberty.
Khatami said the prevailing developments in the world are running a course of concern, adding that the instrumental and one-sided use of such issues as fighting terrorism have fomented other tensions, an increasing pressure on Palestinians being one of them.
"Now, it is the responsibility of each of us to defuse tensions and remove misunderstandings, and to help encourage dialogue and cooperate for coexistence in a world without coercion, oppression, and discrimination," he addressed the ECO summit.
"To do this, mutual understanding must be promoted and regional cooperation further expanded."
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