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ANKARA /CRACOW – Turkish Daily News
Turkey doesn't want to be drawn into a conflict that
could erupt over a boiling dispute regarding control
of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, but nobody
should expect Ankara to sit back and watch if
developments there spill over, destabilizing
neighboring Iraq, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül
indicated yesterday.
“Spoiling the demographic structure of Kirkuk would
be a serious threat for the future of all of Iraq.
Turkey is very worried about the reports of the
demographic manipulation,” Gül told the Turkish
Daily News in an exclusive interview on his way to
Poland, where, along with other foreign dignitaries,
he will honor the victims of Auschwitz and
commemorate the camp's liberation by Russian
soldiers near the end of World War II.
He made his remarks as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan warned the United States and the United
Nations that they would have to pay a heavy price at
the end if they allow the tension in Kirkuk to boil
over.
The government's strong-worded statements came two
days ahead of the Jan. 30 local elections in Kirkuk,
which will take place simultaneously with general
elections, following Wednesday's warnings from
Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, who
indicated that tensions in Kirkuk could lead to
clashes in Iraq that could draw Turkey into the
dispute.
Kurdish leaders, on the other hand, have stood
firm in the face of growing Turkish unease regarding
the migration of hundreds of thousands of Kurds into
the city ahead of the polls. “No country has the
right to speak out on Kirkuk. The people of Iraq
will decide on the fate of Kirkuk,” Iraq's interim
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, commenting
on Turkish complaints.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
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