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ISTANBUL, April 30 (AFP) - 19h08 - Iraq's
neighbors threw their support behind the new
government in Baghdad Saturday, pledging to increase
security cooperation with the conflict-torn country
which Turkey's prime minister warned was becoming a
"training ground for terrorist groups."
Iraq's Hoshyar Zebari, on his first mission abroad
after his re-appointment as foreign minister in
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's cabinet, joined
counterparts from Iraq' six neighbors -- Iran,
Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey --
plus Egypt and Bahrain, in Istanbul to discuss the
political process in his country.
"We expect more" from our neighbors, Zebari told
reporters. "Our neighbors could be more
constructive, more positive and extend genuine aid
and assistance in many fields to us."
Zebari said he had asked his counterparts to ensure
that no militants infiltrate from their territories
to Iraq to join the insurgency there.
Baghdad has accused both Syria and Iran of allowing
foreign fighters to cross their borders into Iraq.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who briefly
joined the talks, likened Iraq to a "training ground
for terrorist groups" and called for immediate
measures to ensure border security.
A joint declaration issued at the end of the talks
condemned "terrorist acts" in Iraq and said
neighbors were determined "to increase their
cooperation in the overall border security with
Iraq... with the primary aim of stemming terrorist
and other illegal infiltrations to and from Iraq."
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the
interior ministers of the participant countries
would soon convene in Ankara to discuss concrete
security measures.
Turkey raised its own misgivings that Turkish Kurd
rebels who went into hiding in the mountains of
northern Iraq prior to the US-led invasion are
increasingly infiltrating Turkey to engage in
anti-government violence.
The joint declaration also pledged "to support and
cooperate with the newly elected Transitional
National Government and... to promote Iraqi
transition to a united, democratic and pluralistic
state, with a federal structure if so decided by the
Iraqi people."
It expressed strong desire that Jaafari's government
"will be fully instrumental in pursuing and
completing the political transition... in a manner
which will ensure effective participation of the
entire spectrum of the Iraqi people."
The appeal was aimed mainly at the Sunni Arabs, who
boycotted the January 30 polls and provide the
backbone of the insurgency in Iraq.
After more than three months of political wrangling
since the elections, Jaafari on Thursday announced
only a partial line-up that was approved by
parliament, but disappointed the Sunni Muslim Arab
community.
Several key government posts, including the oil and
defence portfolios, have yet to be allocated.
Zebari pledged the Sunni Arabs would be incorporated
in the next stages of the political process, which
include the drafting of a constitution, a referendum
on it, as well as new general elections in December.
"Iraq cannot be a working state or a country without
the Sunni Arabs," he said.
The neighbors also confirmed their readiness to help
in the training of Iraqi security forces and called
for a greater UN involvement in the political
process in the country.
All the countries involved were represented by their
foreign ministers, except for Saudi Arabia which
sent its deputy foreign minister.
The heads of the Arab League and the Organization of
the Islamic Conference as well as the UN envoy to
Iraq and a European Union representative attended
the meeting.
The foreign ministers have met regularly since
January 2003, when Turkey spearheaded the initiative
as part of efforts to force Baghdad to comply with
UN resolutions and avert a US intervention.
AFP
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