"Iraq cannot respond to an invitation that its Foreign Minister had received at 11:20 PM (20:20 GMT) last night," Zebari

Additional Reporting By Subhy Haddad, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, November 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraq's Interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari shunned Saturday, November 1, an invitation to join talks with the occupied country's neighbors, citing "short notice and undiplomatic manner" in which the Syrian invitation was extended.

Zebari, who was scheduled to arrive in the Syrian capital early Saturday, told a news conference: "Iraq cannot respond to an invitation that its Foreign Minister had received at 11:20 PM (20:20 GMT) last night."

He described the procedure followed in addressing the invitation as: "Unprofessional and humiliating for Iraq, and does not fall in line with diplomatic protocols and norms."

The interim foreign minister stressed that the only party that should discuss the situation in Iraq and its future, "is Iraq itself and without trusteeship by anybody."

"The neighboring states are requested to support the efforts of the Iraqis to maintain stability and security, fighting terrorism and secure Iraq's borders," he said, adding that "this is the decision taken by (Iraq's) Governing Council)."

Zebari underlined that "Iraq is not eager or begging to attend this (Damascus) meeting, despite the fact that the new Iraq is keen to preserve and develop good neighborhood relations with its neighboring countries."

He started the press briefing with a note of "gratitude" to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan for threatening to boycott the Damascus gathering unless Iraq was invited.

Zebari's participation in the meeting of seven foreign ministers had briefly been in doubt amid Syrian misgivings about his government's legitimacy.

However, the boycott threat from staunch U.S. allies Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia prompted an 11th hour climb-down by the hosts, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In what some Arab diplomats described as a "face-saving measure" for Damascus, the seven ministers were to meet for half an hour without Zebari before the formal gathering.

According to the compromise – now buried alive - Zebari was supposed to join the Egyptian, Iranian, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Saudi, Syrian and Turkish ministers for the main business of the talks.

"It is under the clear understanding that Iraq will participate at all the formal meetings," one senior Arab official earlier told AFP, asking not to be identified.

"The informal meeting is just a face-saving measure."

Jordan has immediately welcomed the compromise.

"We believe Iraq ought to be represented at any meeting dealing with the country," Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher told AFP before his departure from Amman for the talks.

"We are in favor of any cooperation with the interim Governing Council that might lead to a rapprochement between Arab states and Iraq, and help put an end to the occupation of the country and improve its internal situation."

Moasher said it would have been perverse to have denied Zebari a seat in Saturday's talks given that Arab ministers had already admitted him to an Arab League meeting in Cairo in September.

A spokesman for the Governing Council has earlier said Zebari would press the seven ministers to do more to stop the infiltration of "foreign militants", which his U.S.-backed administration holds responsible for the persistent violence still plaguing the war-shattered nation.

"We are asking neighbors to help us curb border infiltration and hand us information on all persons who infiltrate into Iraq," Hamid al-Kifai told AFP.

"The issue of terrorism remains a priority."

Syria has called the two-day meeting starting Saturday of Iraq's neighbors worried by the escalating violence in the U.S.-occupied country and the risks of regional instability.