DAMASCUS, Dec 23 (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi called on all of Iraq's ethnic and religious groups Thursday to cast their votes in next month's elections, warning that calls for sectarian boycotts were a recipe for civil war and partition.
"We want Shiites, Sunnis, Christians, Turkmens and all the other communities of Iraq to take part in the elections," said Kharazi, whose country largely shares the faith of Iraq's long oppressed Shiite majority.
"All these communities must have their place (in the new Iraq)," the minister told reporters during a visit to Iran's chief Arab ally, Syria.
"Certain parties are hatching plots to spark a civil war which would be the beginning of the country's breakup," Kharazi warned.
"We must now not allow the security situation to deteriorate."
There are widespread fears among the Sunni Arab elite which dominated Saddam Hussein's regime and all previous Iraqi governments that the January 30 polls will empower the Shiites through sheer force of numbers, boosting the influence of neighbouring Iran.
Leading Sunni clerics have urged a boycott, while the insurgent groups that have taken root in Sunni areas around Baghdad and to its north and west have threatened a campaign of sabotage.
Sectarian bombings in the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala Sunday killed 66 people and wounded more than 200, prompting Iran to close its borders with Iraq.
Kharazi's calls for calm in the run-up to the election came after US President George W. Bush warned both Iran and its ally Syria against "meddling" in Iraq.
Iran has adopted an ambiguous policy since last year's US-led invasion, encouraging its Iraqi allies to take part in the coalition-installed interim government but opposing the foreign military presence.
Kharazi took up that line Thursday, telling Iraqis that next month's election would "speed up the departure of foreign troops" and so remove what he described as an "element of insecurity."
The Iranian minister's comments came after he helds talks with Syrian counterpart Faruq al-Shara and President Bashar al-Assad.
Kharazi, who is a regular visitor here, was due to travel on to Lebanon and Turkey, whose prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Damascus Thursday on the second day of a landmark visit.
12/23/2004 13:44 GMT - AFP