Firstly, may I thank Cobura for setting up these talks. May I also thank Istalia who also has been a key moderator within the World Congress regarding this most important issue. Without either of them it is simply terrifying to imagine the ruin and despair that both nations may have already caused upon each other. My final, and naturally most important thanks, must go to Jakania who, albeit after much deliberating, have decided that peace is better than war, and that they will restrain their aggressiveness at least for a short time - as hard as that may for them.
I believe Kalopia have always been clear about our views, and these were displayed and agreed on when the Istalian Foreign Minister visited Kalopia. We urge you to this from the Istalian Representative in the World Congress to understand our position:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=7498&start=20#p127431. Fundamentally, we are coming from a point where, as a result of age long ethnic tensions in our country, we have to be very upfront when it comes to anyone be that Turjak, Kalopian, Majatran, Siphinan, or Istochniak, who wish to implement the same sort of biased regime that the Homeland Party do.
However, we have never supported the discrimination of Turjaks, nor have we ever said we would deny them citizenship. If an ethnic Turjak is born in Kalopia because his family migrated to Kalopia two hundred years ago, then of course he or she would be granted instantaneously Kalopian Citizenship. Further, if a first-generation immigrant Turjak moved to Kalopia, lived here for several years, and then passed the citizenship test, they would also be entitled to citizenship. But let us also remember that Kalopian Citizenship is exclusive, and many of these immigrants prefer to remain Jakanian, or wherever they are from, rather than rescind their original citizenship.
Our position on the Turjak matter is this. Just as I am sure you do not believe that Dundorfians are native to Jakania, we say that Turjaks are not native to Kalopia. Does this put them at any lesser position? Of course not. This is just the way Kalopia has been created, and whilst much Turjak influence has been present throughout Kalopia's history, it fundamentally wasn't began or first populated with Turjaks. For this reason, we see it nonsensical for the Homeland Party in our Grand National Assembly right now, to speak of returning Kalopia to the Turjaks, when it was never the Turjaks in the first place.
But now we must turn our eyes to the more pressing matter at hand. And that is the unnecessarily imperialistic, and aggressive nature from Jakania for placing troops on the border. They have announced plans to move up to 30,000 troops to the border. For what reason? It is clear that tensions are not going to spill over into Jakania, which was the first excuse they provided. From a Kalopian viewpoint, it appears that Jakania are planning nothing less than a full scale invasion of Kalopia, and are massively overstating the facts, in order to give them a reason to declare war and expand the Turjak homeland.
Thankfully the international community saw through the Jakanian aggression very quickly, otherwise I fear that these talks be occurring following the unnecessary loss of thousands of soldiers on either side. It is quite clear that Jakania have no problem using military conflict in order to further their resolve, with their stubbornness in even coming to these talks, showing they rather war than peace. In short, they are certainly not protecting Turjaks through this aggression, and are certainly not providing the international community with an example of a democratic, and peaceful Turjak nation.
Our request is simple enough. The Jakanians will step down every single troop from the border. Their being at the border in such hordes, is nonsensical and dangerous. Kalopian policy has been to match the number of Jakanian troops at the border. We ask Jakania, do they honestly want 60,000 men facing off against each other? I would hope not, for if they did, there would be little point of us being here for these talks. All the evidence that Jakania wants war would be there.
Perhaps instantly standing down all troops is a little quick for Jakania. Therefore, we would call for them to cancel their plans to quadruple their border force, which will be matched by Kalopia. From there, we can see a steady decrease in men on the border, until we are returned to pre-tension levels, or perhaps even better, none at all. However, it will naturally need trust from both sides. I believe that Kalopia has already demonstrated some of this, and hope that this impels Jakania to put the same sort of trust into Kalopia.
Once again, as I close, I would like to thank Cobura for hosting this meeting, and in particular, the Governor-General of Cobura for taking time out of his busy schedule to open these historic talks. I believe I have laid down Kalopia's position very clearly; the ball is now in Jakania's court. It is up to them how the course of negotiations continues from here.