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Turkey repeats warning of intervention to Kurds

Turkey expressed its concern yesterday over ethnic and political divisions in neighboring Iraq and said it could not stand quietly by if Kurds took control of the major northern oil hub of Kirkuk.

Ethnic tensions have risen in Kirkuk, a city of 750,000, as political groups jostle for advantage ahead of the June 30 handover of power in Iraq from the US occupation forces to an interim Iraqi government.

Turkey fears Kurdish domination of Kirkuk and its energy resources will greatly boost prospects for Kurdish autonomy and possibly even independence, which in turn could help reignite separatism among Ankara's own Kurds in southeastern Turkey.

"Everybody knows about Turkish sensitivities over Kirkuk. We would never allow [Kurdish domination to become] a fait accompli in Kirkuk," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters. "Everyone should have their fair share of the country's wealth."

Kurds regard Kirkuk as a Kurdish city and want to reverse former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's "Arabization" policy which forced Kurds from their homes, replacing them with mostly Shiite Muslim Arabs.

But Turkmen, with close linguistic and ethnic ties to Turkey, insist they are the original inhabitants of Kirkuk.

"Turkey backs Iraq's political and territorial integrity. The division of Iraq should not be allowed," Gul said.

In comments reported by Turkish media at the weekend, Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani was quoted as saying Turkey had signaled an easing of its opposition to a federal structure in Iraq, provided it did not lead to a separate Kurdish state.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Gul both denied there had been any change in Turkish policy on Iraq.

Turkish security forces are currently facing an upsurge in violent clashes with Kurdish guerrillas in the southeast after the rebels called off a six-year unilateral ceasefire.

The security forces say some 2,000 Kurdish fighters have crossed into Turkey recently from hideouts in northern Iraq.

More than 30,000 people were killed during secessionist violence in southeastern Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s but the fighting largely subsided after the 1999 capture of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
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