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US Ambassador Wilson: Kirkuk's future will
be decided by Iraqis, not others 17.1.2007 |
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January 17,
2007
Speaking about the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk,
Ross Wilson, the US Ambassador to Turkey, has noted
the sensitivities felt by Ankara on the
subject of the city's status, saying "According to
our views, the shaping of Kirkuk's future must take
place in a way which strengthens the
stability of the region."
Wilson yesterday visited the party offices of Zeki
Sezer, the head of the Democratic Left Party, where
he offered his condolences on the
death of former party head Bulent Ecevit.
Responding to a reporter's question about whether
the US interpreted recent comments by Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an
attempt by Ankara to interfere in Kirkuk, Wilson
said "The future of Kirkuk is one which the Iraqi
people have to decide upon.
It is natural that the US, Turkey, and other
countries would have opinions on Kirkuk, but in the
end, "it is Iraq which will be making the
choices."
Hurriyet com.tr | NTVMBC
Kirkuk is just outside the borders of the largely
autonomous Kurdistan region (Iraq) and it is not under the full
control of Kurdistan Regional Government
administration.
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein 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.
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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