ISTANBUL, January 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Six leading Muslim nations underlined Thursday, January 23, the importance of safeguarding the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq.

They also urged Iraq to show "more active" cooperation with U.N. arms inspectors, and embark on policies to inspire confidence in its neighbors, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"We call solemnly on the Iraqi leadership to move irreversibly and sincerely towards assuming its responsibilities in restoring peace and stability in the region," they said in their declaration, read aloud to reporters by Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis.

The statement, adopted by the foreign ministers of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey, called on Iraq to continue cooperating with the arms inspectors from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"We request Iraq ... to demonstrate a more active approach in providing Iraq's inventory of information and material concerning her capabilities of weapons of mass destruction," it said.

The six nations also emphasized that "the (U.N.) Security Council is fully seized with the task of determining the state of Iraq's compliance with its resolutions and ensuring their full implementation."

The ministers refrained from issuing a direct message to the United States, which has in recent days stepped up its rhetoric against Iraq.

"We have focused our attention to inviting Iraq to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors ... The emphasis of the message is directed to Iraq," Yakis said.

Earlier this evening, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher announced a breakthrough.

"There is an agreement, but we have entrusted some of our colleagues with final drafting," Maher told reporters.

"We will approve it ... there is no problem with the communiqué," he added.

The ministers have been seeking to outline a common position against a war, which many fear could lead to the break-up of Iraq and spread ethnic conflict to its neighbors.

Earlier, Turkish press reports had said there was a rift between Turkey and the Arab states over the declaration, with Ankara insisting that it should issue calls only on Baghdad, and not make demands of Washington.

The ministers, invited by Turkey, had convened amid pessimism over chances of success, and reports emerged early about disagreement over tactics.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul offered some blunt words, warning of "dangerous escalation" in the crisis over Iraq and saying Baghdad had the greatest responsibility in averting war, Anatolia news agency reported.

"The situation in Iraq is in a process of increasingly dangerous escalation ... That is why our government is expending extraordinary efforts to resolve this problem without a war," Gul told a conference in Istanbul as the six-nation meeting kicked off across town.

"I want to clearly say here that Iraq could make the biggest contribution to peace. The biggest responsibility lays on Iraq.

"Unfortunately the Iraqi leadership made mistakes ... during the past 10-15 years in which there was a lot of bloodshed and tears," Gul said.

He was referring to past military conflicts to which Iraq was a party such as its war with Iran and invasion of Kuwait.

Speculation has also been rife across the Middle East that the gathering will try to work out an exile-and-amnesty plan for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his senior aides.

But leaders of all six countries have denied that they would push for such a formula.

The only Iraqi neighbor absent from the meeting was Kuwait, which is lined up as a launch-pad for any U.S.-led attack against Iraq.

Meanwhile, a group of around 15 anti-war activists demonstrated outside Ciragan Palace.

"No to war," "Stop the war machine" and "Look at those who claim to be declaring anti-nuke wars," read the placards raised by the activists from an Islamist-leaning rights group, in a protest held under pouring rain.

Another group of peace activists boarded a train from Istanbul for the southern province of Adana, where the Incirlik air base has been used by a US-British force to patrol a northern no-fly zone over Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.

The protestors were to hold a demonstration in Incirlik on Friday.

Washington is asking Turkey, its NATO ally, to allow U.S. forces to use the base and several other facilities as launching pads for possible strikes on Iraq.

Senior trade unionists and human rights activists joined another demonstration in the southeastern corner of the country, near the border crossing between Turkey and Iraq.

"We all know that this war is neither for the toppling of Saddam nor for the eradication of non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

"This war is for domination of oil ... We cannot remain silent and inactive in the face of this dirty war," a spokesman for the group said.

In a related development, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer arrived here for talks with Turkish leaders on looming threats of war.

Fischer, who was to travel on to Egypt and Jordan, was scheduled to meet with Gul on Thursday evening and Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis on Friday morning.