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Turkish PM warns Iraqi Kurds over Kirkuk 9.1.2007
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ANKARA, January
9, -- Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday
Turkey could not stand idly by if Iraqi Kurds seized
control of oil-rich Kirkuk in the Kurdish region of
northern Iraq, though he did not spell out what
Ankara might do to prevent such a scenario. Erdogan
fears the Kurds want to carve out an independent
state in northern Iraq, embracing Kirkuk, which
could in turn fan separatism among its own Kurds
living in southeast Turkey.
Ankara has accused the Kurds of deliberately
boosting their numbers in Kirkuk, at the expense of
Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmens, to ensure the
city votes in an eventual referendum in favour of
being incorporated into Iraq's Kurdish region.
"There are efforts to alter the demographic
structure of Kirkuk. We cannot remain a bystander to
such developments," Erdogan told members of his
ruling AK Party in a televised address in
parliament. |
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister |
Erdogan said the developments could lead to a more
intense level of civil war in Iraq that could harm
the wider region.
He did not say how Turkey might act. Analysts rule
out any military intervention by Turkey, a NATO ally
of the United States, but say Ankara is likely to
increase it diplomatic and commercial pressure on
the Kurds. Turkish territory provides crucial land
routes for Iraqi oil exports to the West.
Turkey wants any future referendum on Kirkuk's
status to lead to power-sharing between its ethnic
groups and to confirm the city's place within a
politically united Iraq.
"Turkey will continue to support Iraq's political
unity and territorial integrity and its efforts to
restore stability and establish a state structure in
which Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims can live together,"
Erdogan said.
He also reaffirmed Ankara's support for its Turkmen
ethnic kin in Iraq.
"The pictures of Saddam (Hussein's) execution have
confirmed our fears (of civil war)," Erdogan said,
referring to the increased tensions between Sunnis
and Shi'ites sparked by last month's hanging of the
former Iraqi dictator.
"We are worried that this incident will lead to
further dangerous polarisation in Iraq," he said.
Erdogan has said Iraq's stability is a greater
national priority even than Ankara's efforts to join
the European Union.
During a visit to Washington last month, Erdogan
urged President George W. Bush to set a timetable to
withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. This week, Bush is
expected to announce an increase in troop numbers to
combat the sectarian violence.
In December 2006, Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar
Zebari, warned Turkey not to meddle in "our Kirkuk.",
"You speak of Kirkuk as if it were a Turkish city,"
Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, told Gönül. "These are
matters for Iraq to decide."
Reuters
The former Iraqi president forced about 250,000
Kurdish residents to give up their homes to Arabs in
the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city and the region's
oil industry.
Kirkuk city lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region and it is not under the full
control of Kurdistan Regional Government
administration.
A referendum is to be held in late 2007 to decide
whether the oil-rich Kurdish province should be
annexed to the safe semiautonomous Kurdistan region
in Iraq's north.
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