Talabani: If Turkey talks about Kirkuk

According to the report from Kurdistani Nuwe newspaper, Talabani held a meeting at the Kirkuk governor office with the representatives of Kurds, Turkoman, Arabs and Chaldo-Assyrians in the city during his visit to Kirkuk and stated that the aim of his visit was "to clarify some truths with you for the purpose of consolidating fraternity, security and tranquillity and, God willing, to end all the phenomena of looting and disorder with the participation and cooperation of all groups."

Talabani stressed that Kirkuk is the city of a multinational fraternity because it is the city of Kurds, Turkomans, Arabs and Chaldo-Assyrians. This city must be the symbol of fraternity of peoples of Iraq and of real Iraqi citizenship based on equality."

According to the newspaper, Talabani stated, "We as Kurds have a good relationship with Turkey and we have taken into account Turkey’s concerns while acting in Kirkuk. But when we act as Iraqis this is another issue. The Iraqis consider Turkey, Syria and Iran as their neighbors. When we were a number of parties we had relations with these countries. But when the democratic Iraqi state is established we will not allow any one to say a word about Iraq. Iraq is an independent sovereign state. Its peoples determine the future of Iraq and its shape. We will not allow our neighbors to interfere, for example if Syria says, "Mogul is an Arab city," Turkey says, "Kirkuk is a Turkoman city, "and the Iranians say, "Karbala and Najaf are Persian cities,". These statements will not be accepted.