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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey urged Iraqi
electoral officials and the United Nations to
examine what it claimed were skewed Iraqi elections
results released Sunday, saying it was particularly
concerned about vote tallies in the oil-rich and
ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.
Turkey has long complained that Kurdish groups were
illegally moving Kurds into Kirkuk, a strategic
northern city, in an effort to tip the city's
population balance in their favor.
Turkish officials did not make direct reference to
the Kurds on Sunday, but the Turkish Foreign
Ministry said in a statement that voter turnout in
some regions was low and charged that there were
``imbalanced results'' in several regions, including
Kirkuk.
``It has emerged that certain elements have tried to
influence the voting and have made unfair gains from
this,'' the statement said, in an apparent reference
to the Kurds. ``As a result the Iraqi Interim
Parliament won't reflect the true proportions of
Iraqi society.''
Ankara fears that Kurdish domination of Kirkuk and
oil fields near the city would make a Kurdish state
in northern Iraq viable. Such a state, Turkish
officials warn, could further inspire Turkey's own
rebellious Kurds, who have been battling the Turkish
army in southeastern Turkey since 1984.
Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd who is Iraq's interim
foreign minister, said Turkey had no cause for
concern over strong Kurdish showing in Iraq's
elections.
``Definitely all their fears are misplaced,'' he
told CNN. ``Iraq will remain united. This Kurdish
participation in this Iraqi elections and in the
regional election is reaffirmation of their
commitment to a national unity of the country.''
He said Kurds were seeking a democratic and
pluralistic within a federal and united Iraq.
``There is no conspiracy here,'' he said. ``Turkey
should have no fears whatsoever about the future of
Iraq remaining a friendly country to them, united
but respecting the diversity of Iraqi society.''
The Turkish statement called on the election board
to seriously consider objections to the vote and
urged the United Nations to take a ``more active
role'' and ensure that ``the flaws, the disorder and
irregularities'' of the poll were not repeated when
Iraqis vote on a new constitution later this year.
Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims won nearly half the
votes in the Jan. 30 election, giving the community
significant power but not enough parliamentary seats
to form a government on its own.
Two key Kurdish parties gained just over a quarter
of votes cast, giving them considerable support in
the national assembly to preserve Kurdish autonomy
in northern Iraq.
In Kirkuk, Kurds took to the streets to celebrate
the results of the election. Cars sped through the
streets blaring their horns and waving Kurdistan
flags through a city that is fiercely divided
between Sunni Muslim Arabs and Kurds.
AP
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