Iraq says Jordan king and Turkish PM to visit

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq is expecting visits soon from Jordan's King Abdullah and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, easing its regional diplomatic isolation, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Abdullah will be the first Arab head of state to visit Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

"In the international community and Arab countries, confidence has grown in Iraq and its ability to be stable, to recover from the evils of sectarian war ... in its prospects to move forward," Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told a news conference.

He gave no dates for the visits.

Gulf Arab states, encouraged by a fall in violence to a 4-year low, have also pledged to revive high-level ties to Iraq.

Sunni Arab governments have largely stayed away from Iraq since the invasion in 2003, citing security concerns. No Arab ambassador has been stationed permanently in Iraq since Egypt's envoy was kidnapped and killed shortly after arriving in 2005.

Analysts say Baghdad's reliance on U.S. troops and its close ties with non-Arab, Shi'ite majority Iran have also been behind the reluctance by Sunni Arab states to normalize ties. Iraq is the only Shi'ite-led Arab country.

"Soon there will be some senior leader visits to Iraq. King Abdullah of Jordan is expected to visit us in Baghdad, the first Arab leader," Zebari said. "There is a diplomatic opening for Iraq."

Zebari said he also expected Erdogan very soon. Iraq's ties with Ankara have at times been tense over Turkish military attacks on Kurdish rebels living in northern Iraq.

He said the growing confidence of Arab governments in Iraq was largely due to the Shi'ite-led government's progress in reconciling with minority Sunni Arabs after sectarian fighting brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and early 2007.

Critics say much more needs to be done to bridge the divide.

SUNNI SET TO REJOIN CABINET

Maliki appeared to receive a boost on Tuesday when Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc said it was close to rejoining the government, saying many of its demands for a greater share of power and freedom for Sunni Arab prisoners had been met.

Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab countries have said they want to see Maliki's government take reconciliation with Iraq's Sunni Arab minority more seriously.

Sunni Arabs have little voice in the current Iraqi cabinet, which is dominated by Shi'ites and Kurds since the Sunni Accordance Front quit a year ago.

"There is a new mood in the country ... for reconciliation," Zebari said.

Jordan and the United Arab Emirates had each named an ambassador to Iraq, he added.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have all pledged to reopen their embassies and appoint ambassadors amid.

But while the Sunni bloc appears close to rejoining the government, provincial elections expected to boost Sunni Arab participation at a local level look like they will be delayed because of obstacles getting an electoral law passed.

Maliki has set the polls for Oct 1, but legislators said last month there was little chance of getting the law passed soon enough to allow preparations for a vote by then.

The U.N. special representative to Baghdad, Staffan de Mistura, said there would be time to hold the elections before the end of the year if parliament passed the law this month.

"There is no reason for this electoral law not to be approved because most of the issues can be solved. We still have one month but it is a crucial month," De Mistura said.

Parliament is scheduled to take a summer recess in August.

Washington says the elections will promote reconciliation by boosting the participation of minority Sunni Arabs in politics. Sunni Arabs boycotted the last local polls in January 2005.

Lawmakers have said debate on the elections law has become bogged down over a dispute between lawmakers over what to do about voting in the disputed oil rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas and Aws Qusay; Editing by Dean Yates and Ralph Boulton)