ANKARA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Syrian foreign minister on Wednesday called for Iraq's territorial integrity and Iraqi people's unity, sovereignty and independence, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

    Before wrapping up his one-day working visit to Turkey, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem at Ankara's Esenboga Airport lamented the division among Iraqi people and stressed that the solution must emerge from Iraq itself, according to Anatolia.

    Carrying a message from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Turkish leaders, Al-Muallem held talks respectively with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul in Ankara on Wednesday.

    "We have discussed settlement of security and stability in Iraq, stopping Arabian-Israeli clashes and the bloodshed in the Palestinian territories as well as Turkey-Syria relations," Al-Muallem was quoted by Anatolia as saying.

    He also noted that Turkey has a very important role in the region, and the stability and security of the region is vital for Turkey as well.

    However, he stressed that there is a very complicated structure in Iraq, which could not be handled by any single country alone.

    When asked his assessment about U.S. President George W. Bush's new Iraq strategy, which envisions a boost of U.S. troops to Iraq, al-Muallem said that he did not believe use of force would solve any problem.

    The United States have been accusing Syria and Iran of aiding the insurgency in Iraq, where sectarian violence claims daily casualties.