ANKARA, Feb 18 (AFP)
- 10h56 - The Iraqi Kurds, one of the big winners of
last month's elections in Iraq, are ready to
cooperate with rival Sunni Arabs and Turkmens, but
will make no concession on the disputed oil-rich
city of Kirkuk, Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said.
In an interview with a Turkish newspaper published
Friday, Barzani also extended an olive branch to
neighboring Turkey, but rejected as "unacceptable"
any interference by Ankara in their internal
affairs. |
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"We do want the Sunnis to be included in the
political process. We do want them in the government
and in the process of drafting the new
constitution," Barzani told the English-language New
Anatolian. "They should also prepare to participate
in the new elections in a year's time."
Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and its ally,
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, won the second
largest number of parliamentary seats after the main
Shiite alliance and also clinched the majority in
the provincial council in Tamim province, where
ethnically volatile Kirkuk is located.
The January 30 elections "proved the Kurdish
identity of Kirkuk," Barzani said, adding: "We
always said we would make no concessions on this."
Kirkuk is also claimed by the Turkmens, an ethnic
group of Turkish descent backed by Ankara, who say
the Kurds rigged the vote in the city as part of a
suspected plot to seize its oil riches and make it
the capital of a future independent Kurdish state.
"I hope now that the elections are over they (the
Turkmens)... will review their negative policies and
display a more friendly attitude. If they extend a
friendly hand, we will reciprocate," Barzani said.
Asked whether the Iraqi Kurds aspire to
independence, Barzani said: "We want everyone to
acknowledge that the Kurdish people have rights...
The problems of our brothers and sisters should be
solved through peaceful and democratic means. This
should not be at the expense of any nation."
He said the Kurdish leadership would use its
newly-found political power to create "a
pluralistic, democratic and federal Iraq."
Ankara fears that independence-minded moves in
northern Iraq may spill over into adjoining
southeast Turkey, also home to a sizeable Kurdish
community.
"People here feel deep concern, or even anger, when
some people in Turkey try to interfere in our
internal affairs. This is unacceptable," Barzani
said.
"On some issues, we don't have to see eye-to-eye.
However, this should not be turned into an obstacle
in our relations. That too is unacceptable," he
said.
AFP
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