The two-day gathering of Iraq's neighbors - the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the G8 - that ended Saturday, was staged to find ways to end the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.
But Iraqi parliamentarians feel the gathering of world leaders failed to address issues concerning Iraq for which the conference was initially held.
"The conference did not achieve the required success as it came at an inappropriate time," Said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish MP, who, before the Istanbul meeting even began, had expressed concern that Turkey could hijack the event.
"Turkey was the biggest beneficiary of the conference, as all the participants supported it," Othman said.
The security conference was held amid simmering tensions between Baghdad and Ankara because of attacks on Turkish soldiers by separatist Kurdish rebels of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Ankara's threat to launch a military incursion into northern Iraq to flush out rebels hiding there has made world headlines in recent weeks.
At the Istanbul meeting, Turkish leaders left no stone unturned in voicing their concern to the gathering, and insisted that Ankara still retained the option of launching a military operation inside Iraq.
The conference did manage to win a pledge from the participants to support Iraq to fight terrorism on its soil, but that assurance has not satisfied leaders in Baghdad.
"The meeting ended with no real value, as there was no clear framework on any issue," said Izzat Al Shabender, a lawmaker from former premier Iyad Allawi's secular political bloc.
"The conference did not arrive at a solution on how to tackle terrorism or terrorist attacks on neighboring countries," he said, referring to PKK operations against Turkey.
Sunni lawmaker Salim Abdullah from the National Concord Front, the main Sunni Arab bloc in the Baghdad parliament, said the conference did not come up with a concrete formula to address these issues.
"There was no definite formula, because the atmosphere had a very skeptical attitude from the Turks," he said.
Othman said discussions related to the Palestinian problem, Lebanon, and Iran's nuclear program also diluted the importance of Iraqi issues.
"The Iraqi issue was discussed only briefly," he said.
On Saturday, the conference saw a declaration by the Arab League, Egypt, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States that interference in Lebanon's political process was unacceptable.
Presidential elections there have been twice deferred because of a lack of consensus over who should replace the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires November 24.
Fears are running high in Beirut that the standoff between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps could lead to two rival governments, a grim reminder of the end of Lebanon's 1975 to 1990 civil war when two administrations battled it out.
Iraqi lawmaker Abbas Al Bayati, from the Shiite alliance that leads the Baghdad government, was one of the few leaders who said the Istanbul conference was able to focus world attention on Iraq.
"The declarations of the conference were balanced. They gave a message that regional and international societies are supporting the Iraqi government," Bayati said.
© 2007 Agence France-Presse
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