The 13th annual conference of the Kurdish National Congress of North America (KNC) was held July 28-29, 2000, in San Diego - California. The theme of the conference was "The Power of Unity".

The representatives of the main Kurdish political parties, Kurdish and non-Kurdish organizations and distinguished Kurdish activists attended the conference.

The conference addressed a wide range of topics related to the role of education and Kurdish intelligentsia in the Kurdish movement, human rights, American policy towards the Kurds and the Kurdish policy, past, present and future in addition to the KNC's achievements and affairs.

The conference addressed three main topics:

1. Ethnic Cleansing

The discussion of this issue highlighted the crime of ethnic cleansing which has been going on for years all parts of Kurdistan. In Southern Kurdistan, ethnic cleansing has been concentrated mainly in the regions of Kirkuk, Khanakhin, Sindjiar, Makhmoor, Sheikhan, …etc. The ethnic cleansing has been accelerated in the last two years and it has become a threat and challenge to be dealt with and addressed seriously inside and outside Kurdistan. Inside Kurdistan, the Kurdish government must establish camps for the refuges in a distinct area so that issue stays alive in the international agenda. Outside, we should pressure the friendly governments and the United Nations to pressure the Iraqi and Turkish governments to stop the policy of Arabization and Turkification of Kurdish areas and permit the return of the Kurds to their original homes.

2. Human Rights

The conference also reiterated the bitter fact that over 30 million Kurds are still suffering from grave human rights violations, atrocities and wars of genocide and call upon the United Nations, the United States and the International community to help address and solve this issue on the basis of self determination for the Kurdish nation; and pressure the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria to grant the Kurds their basic human rights for self determination.

3. The infighting among the Kurds

While the conference reconfirmed its full support for the democratic Kurdish experiment and its rule in the liberated area of Southern Kurdistan and the struggle of the Kurdish movement in all other parts, it noted with deep sorrow the continued internal conflict within the Kurdish movement in Kurdistan. The conference calls on all the parties involved to solve their differences in a peaceful and serious dialogue and uniting willingly within the framework of basic Kurdish interests because their power lies in their unity. They have to work together accordingly to establish a Kurdish national agenda to face the challenges and achieve the goal of self-determination and to establish the rule of law, democracy and basic human rights in Kurdistan.

The conference stressed the urgent need for unity among the Kurds to face the new challenges ahead. In the past the Kurdish people have become weak and suffered continuously from the civil wars. The conference calls on the leaderships in all the parts of Kurdistan to solve their differences by direct dialogue and abandon policies that would lead to a renewed conflict among the Kurds.