Turkey- Based Conference Calls On US To leave Iraq

A conference was held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 22nd through 23rd of December, 2006, which was mainly participated by most Sunni parties in Iraq along with Muslim scholars and representatives of civil and media institutions in Arab and Muslim countries.


The conference, organized by the World Campaign for Preventing Aggression, highlighted the sufferings of the Iraqi people under the US occupation and the Iranian intrusion. In particular, it deplored the brutalities targeting the Sunni Muslims on identity grounds, which include physical liquidation of their men and women and scholars, as well as destroying and burning their mosques and houses; all these crimes are committed on identity grounds. In its final statement, a copy of which was posted to Ikhwanweb, the conference discussed mechanisms and provided recommendations which could help the Iraqi people recover from their ordeal. Before they issued practical recommendations, the conferees agreed on a host of issues, as follows:


  1- Iraq has been and still is of central importance which cannot be ignored or forgotten, and it will continue to be an Arab and Muslim country, and its people will continue to be loyal to their country as they have done throughout history.


 2- The Arab and Muslim states should not stand idle while Iraq comes under occupation and brutalities which reached out to all Iraqi people in general and Sunni people in particular, and they should take a course of action to repel this aggression and restore security and stability to the country.
           
3- We, the conferees, hold the US and Iran responsible for the deterioration of situations in Iraq, which led to the collapse of its unity and security and violation of all rights. In particular, the US is to blame for providing a cover up for these ongoing massacres in Iraq, which give the victims right to sue the occupiers for these campaigns of ethnic cleansing and violation of political and civic rights.
         
4- The conference holds the pro -occupation, Shiite parties and their Iran- backed militia responsible for the brutalities perpetrated against the Sunni people and intrigues to change the Iraqi map and threaten its future only in favor of a specific sect to the exclusion of others.


5- The conference depicts the incumbent Iraqi government as illegitimate since it has been formed under the occupation and lacks the legal capacity to conclude agreements or treaties or deals in the name of Iraq.


6- We condemn the pathetic silence of the Arab and Muslim governments toward the offended Iraqi people especially the Sunni Muslims, and their indifference to the serious threat of the US – Iranian scheme in the region.


 7- The conference hails as heroic the Iraqi resistance which stands in the way of the American- Zionist scheme and the Iranian virulent aims.
                                                                               
In the light of these aforementioned constants, the conference laid down a number of recommendations to act as the agenda for saving the offended Iraqi people, especially the Sunni Muslims. This agenda is also meant to be a common ground between all the influential parties in the Iraqi issue. The recommendations read as follows:
     
1- We call the US to withdraw from Iraq and eliminate all forms of military existence, with declared international mediations to guarantee the implementation of withdrawal.


 2- Iran must steer clear of Iraq and stop meddling with its affairs and refrain from backing the Shiite parties in Iraq, since this poses a threat to the stability of the country and sows the seeds of sectarian sedition between its sects which have peacefully coexisted for long years, with the conference once again warning Iran and its supporters of fomenting sectarian sedition in Iraq, which could spill over into the whole region and no country will be immune against its serious end. 


3- We regard the current political process in Iraq as null and void, as it has been formed by the occupier, and call for replacing it with an indigenous Iraqi agenda without any interference from any foreign quarter.


4- We call for dissolving the sectarian- motivated militias and disarming them, and exposing and bringing to justice the parties which capitalized on the Iraqi ordeal to fish in the trouble water to achieve its sectarian aims.


5- We stress the Arab and Muslim identity of Iraq, and call for standing up against any virulent attempts to divide Iraq or change its reality of the future.
                                                                    
6- We back the courageous Iraqi resistance which provides a shield against the virulent aims of the occupation, and we place high hope for it to take the country out of its ordeal. But we call on its men to close ranks and avoid all causes of disunity and hold fast to justice and patience.
                                                                          
7- We call all Arab and Muslim governments to seek practical solutions to bring back security, stability and balance to Iraq, besides opening the door wide before the civil society establishments in all countries to provide as much humanitarian  and relief support as they could.
                                                
8- The conferees unanimously call the world campaign for preventing aggression to form a committee entrusted with following up the implementation of these recommendations by reactivating the following practical areas:


 


* Area of political and legal action: by rallying the Iraqi Sunni political forces to pressure the neighboring countries and negotiate with them to back the Sunni people in Iraq and protect them from the dangers hanging on their heads. The Iraqi Sunni political forces should also pressure these neighboring countries to take a course of action to have the detainees released as soon as possible, and file suits against violations which the Iraqi people suffer, referring the perpetrators to international tribunals as war criminals.


 * Area of aid and relief: The conference urges the rallying of efforts made by all organizations and civil society activists in Arab and Muslim establishments.


 * Area of family and society:  Tackling the agonies of the tormented and impoverished families especially women and children and the elderly, as well as healing their wounds and rehabilitating their psychic and material and human conditions.



 * Area of media: exerting relentless efforts with invariably all  mass media and alerting them to their vital role in providing accurate and authentic stories, without bias with any quarter or fear of any reactions, given that the situation has became unbearable.
 
Concluding, the conferees thanked the World Campaign for Preventing Aggression for organizing the conference, and also thanked Turkey for hosting the conference on its land.