NAPLES - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday that the proposal of the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan who suggested to form an Iraqi advisory group with the participation of neighboring countries showed the importance of the regional initiative which Turkey had started.
Gul, who was in Naples to attend Intergovernmental Conference, told A.A correspondent regarding Annan's suggestion on the study group which would include Iraqi neighboring countries, Egypt and five permanent members of U.N. Security Council that the proposal of Annan showed the importance of regional initiative which Turkey had started in January prior to the military operation in Iraq.
Gul said that four meetings were held until today within this initiative. He added that Turkey had suggested a contact group to be formed in U.N. among countries during the meting held in Damascus.
Gul emphasized that neighbors of Iraq were given the opportunity to help the reconstruction of Iraq and also were given an important responsibility with the initiative of forming Iraqi advisory group. Gul said that the stability and security of Iraq's neighbors were closely related with developments in Iraq, thus exerting efforts to bring stability, inner harmony and peace to Iraq rapidly should be the basic starting point.
Gul said that if the group was formed, it should contribute firstly to territorial integrity of Iraq, protection of political unity and to form an Iraq in which all parts of society were represented and which would be in peace with its own people and neighbors.
Gul said, ''the picture we see in Iraq is not a desired picture. The chaos, terrorism milieu and stability in Iraq should end rapidly and with this aim international society and especially neighboring countries should exert every type of efforts. Neighboring countries should act in cooperation both among themselves and with coalition powers, temporary Iraqi officials and U.N.''
(GC-Öª) 29.11.2003