Egyptian and Saudi Foreign Ministers

ISTANBUL, January 23 (IslamOnline & News ) - Four key Arab states, Iran and NATO member Turkey convened in Istanbul Thursday, January 23, in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a U.S.-led war against Iraq.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, along with their Iranian and Turkish counterparts, were to meet at 1530 GMT in the Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorus, the former home of Ottoman sultans who once ruled the Middle East, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Lower-level officials from the six countries gathered in the morning to prepare the ground for the ministerial meeting, initiated by Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul.

The participants, five of which border Iraq, will try to outline a common position against war, which many fear could lead to the break-up of Iraq and spread ethnic conflict to neighboring countries.

Speculation has been rife across the Middle East that the gathering will try to work out an exile-and-amnesty plan for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his senior aides, but leaders of all six countries have denied they would push for such a formula, AFP said.

Disagreements

The regional summit between four Arab states, Iran and Turkey on the Iraqi crisis could end in acrimony because of disagreements between participants over the content of their proposed end declaration, the Turkish press warned Thursday.

The meeting of foreign ministers from Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iran and Saudi Arabia was called by Turkey in a bid to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff between Iraq and the United States.

But a draft declaration drawn up by the host state has attracted criticism from Arab states for calling only on the Iraqi administration to avert a possible war while not mentioning the United States, the liberal Radikal daily reported.

The left-leaning Cumhuriyet daily said that while Turkey and Iran agreed on mentioning only Iraq in the end declaration, Syria and Egypt wanted to warn the U.S. administration as well.

Delegates at the meeting told AFP there were splits on the same topic, but said Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which did not want Washington names in the statement, were lined up against Iran and Syria.

If differences are unresolved in Istanbul, the joint declaration might be put off until a meeting of heads of states from the six countries, which could take place next week in Damascus, the newspaper added.

UN Arms Experts Tour Baghdad University’s Faculties

Moving to Iraq and under the threat of an upcoming U.S. attack, U.N. disarmament experts inspected Thursday the faculties of chemistry and biology at a university in Baghdad.

The inspection was carried out at the Al-Mustansiriya university in central Baghdad, according to an AFP correspondent.

Other inspections teams also left the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, known as the former Canal Hotel, but their destinations are still not clear.

On Wednesday, January 22, U.N. experts checked four suspect sites in Iraq, where they returned to resume inspections on November 27 after a four-year break.

Chief inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei ended a 24-hour visit to Iraq on Monday, January 20, having brokered a 10-point joint declaration with Baghdad in which Iraqi officials vowed to boost cooperation ahead of the compliance report to the U.N. Security Council on January 27.

A negative report by the inspectors could be used by the United States as a pretext to attack Iraq.