DAMASCUS/ISTANBUL, 30 April 2005 — Iraq’s neighbors prepared in Istanbul yesterday to voice their support to the formation of a new government in Baghdad and issue an appeal for a full Sunni participation in the next stages of the political process in the conflict-torn country. Diplomats from Iraq and its six neighbors - Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - plus Egypt and Bahrain met behind closed doors to prepare the agenda for a meeting of their foreign ministers today.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, who had said he wanted to attend the gathering, informed the Turkish hosts that he would not be able to come because of ongoing efforts to complete the government lineup. After more than three months of political wrangling since elections in January, Jaafari announced Thursday only a partial lineup that was approved by Parliament but frustrated the Sunni Arab community.
At the meeting in Istanbul, the ministers will discuss developments in Iraq since the Jan. 30 elections and the next stages of the political process in the country, including the drafting of a constitution and preparations for elections in December, a senior Turkish government official said.
“Our main message will be that this process should move ahead smoothly and that the participation of those who did not take part in the previous elections, the Sunni Arabs, should be ensured.”
The ministers were also expected to discuss security matters such as the need to ensure that no militants infiltrate Iraq from neighboring countries to join the insurgence there, he said. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was scheduled to attend the meeting, which the Turkish hosts postponed twice earlier this month in anticipation of the new government in Baghdad.
“We believe Iraq’s neighbors have an important and crucial role to help ... in the stabilization of Iraq and of the region,” Zebari told AFP in Baghdad. In addition to regional cooperation, Zebari said he wanted to deal with the issue of “the infiltration of foreign fighters and terrorists and the transfer of funds and weapons” from neighboring countries into Iraq.
Officials and newspapers around the Middle East yesterday cautiously welcomed the new Iraqi Cabinet, commenting on what one called its “painful birth” and pointing to the enormous challenges ahead.
There was almost universal agreement that Iraqis must work even harder to overcome ethnic and religious differences and to put an end to the insecurity that is plaguing their country.
