Turkey’s Proposal for Democratic Iraq Gathers No Support

The Palestinian problem for the first time was not mentioned in the final declaration of summit dominated by Arabs. Although intensive discussions took place on the issue, Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s opinion that "This problem should not overshadow the future of Iraq" took precedence in the declaration.

Turkey will carry the declaration before the European Union, NATO and the United States. Syria and Saudi Arabia will attempt to get the declaration on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council.

There had been discussion on three final texts during the summit, which was supposed to end at 7:00 p.m. on Friday but which concluded at 1:30 a.m. Wording that included tough statements proposed by Syria and Iran such as "The US and UK invading forces must leave the territory immediately" and "U.S. threats to the region will not be tolerated and will be rejected," put forward by Iran, were not approved for inclusion into the final document.

Salih Boztas / Riyadh / SAUDI ARABIA