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Iraq FM warns of consequences of Syria crisis

23 June 2012 20:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday warned of the consequences of the Syrian crisis, pointing to a potential spillover into other countries in the Middle East, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"It is a main concern for us that the crisis might spill over into the neighboring countries, as no country is immune to such a spillover because of the composition of the societies in these countries...," Zebari told reporters at a news conference held jointly with visiting Swedish, Bulgarian and Polish foreign ministers.

Zebari said the shooting down of a Turkish warplane over the eastern Mediterranean on Friday was a "serious escalation" that might have a worse impact on the region than on Syria itself.

"Iraq is concerned about the Syrian crisis, and its role cannot be bypassed in any decision aimed at solving the crisis. Any regional, Arab or international attempt to jump over its role will not succeed," Zebari said.

He went on to say the three visiting ministers from the EU have brought two messages to Iraq. "Firstly, their support (to Iraq) and stress on the economic and political partnership with Iraq; secondly, the Syrian crisis matters to all of us."

Zebari confirmed his country’s long-standing take on the Syrian issue, namely "supporting the political and democratic change in Syria," as Iraq has always been supportive in the Syrian people’s cause of gaining democracy and freedom.

Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government has maintained close ties with Syria, whose President Bashar al-Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Zebari also said the foreign ministers of Sweden, Bulgaria and Poland will later travel to Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

The three officials from the EU are discussing the Syrian crisis with regional countries before the bloc’s foreign minister meeting on the issue scheduled on Monday.