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US official says Kirkuk public referendum
is an Iraqi issue 19.1.2007 |
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US Undersecretary of State for
Political Affairs "Kirkuk public referendum is an
Iraqi issue"
ANKARA, January 19, -- Turkish Prime Minister
Recept Tayyip Erdogan expressed on Friday concern at
developments in Iraq during a meeting with visiting
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
Nicholas Burns.
During the meeting, Erdogan stressed on importance
of delaying the public referendum in Kirkuk, when
Burns reiterated Kirkuk is an Iraqi issue.
Turkish media, covering the meeting which took place
in Turkish Parliament headquarters, said while Burns
showed understanding regarding the Kirkuk issue, he
said Iraq is an independent country and its up to
the Iraqi people to decide on the public referendum.
Burns also affirmed Washington's stance in support
for Ankara regarding the conflict against the
Kurdish rebel organization, the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK).
On Thursday, Turkey praised a raid by U.S. and Iraqi
forces on a refugee camp of Turkish Kurds in
northern Iraq "as a first step towards combating
Kurdish rebels" but insisted the camp must be shut
down. |
Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Undersecretary of State,
speaks to the media after a meeting with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, not seen, at
the parliament in Ankara, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007
Photo:AP |
Iraqi and U.S. troops conducted a search operation
on Wednesday at the Makhmur refugee camp in northern
Iraq, which Ankara has long argued provides a safe
haven for militants from the PKK.
Earlier this week
Ross Wilson, the US Ambassador to Turkey, 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."
Source: kuna net.kw | Hurriyet
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 autonomous Kurdistan region
in Iraq's north.
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