Next Iraqi elections key, minister says

BAGHDAD, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The next round of Iraqi elections in 2009 will have a greater impact on the emerging Iraqi state and its identity than any other, the foreign minister said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in an interview in the pan-Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat, said all ethnic and sectarian groups in Iraq will have a chance to express their hope for the future in the coming elections.

"The future of Iraq depends on one single question: Is Iraq a secular civilian state or is it a potential sectarian Islamic state? The answer to this question by all the sects of Iraq will decide the future of this big and important country in the Middle East region," he said.

Zebari, a Kurd, expressed the role minority groups have in influencing the direction of the country, calling on his fellow Kurdish citizens to take their agenda beyond their regional territories.

"The Kurds should not ask for specific borders for the district of Kurdistan. Their demands should be set higher, for all of Iraq, an Iraq that belongs to the Iraqi citizens and that is built on citizenship, not on the basis of a sect or an ethnicity," the foreign minister said.

He noted the problems in Iraq were cultural ones, urging people to embrace democratic reform as a way to form a representative society.