To Barzani: Kirkuk Is the Fuse of Iraq

Stating that no sole ethnic group could be sovereign on Kirkuk, Ankara gave the message of "The one entering the adventure suffers its result."

Having come to Turkey for the first time after a long time interval, Barzani was warned very harshly about Kirkuk. At his arrival in Ankara the day before yesterday, he had stated that Kirkuk was the heart of Kurdistan and had expressed that he was ready to discuss his opinion. He was given the message by Ankara that, "Do not even think of it!"

At the meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s Iraq Special Representative Ambassador Osman Koruturk and Foreign Ministry’s Middle East Department General Manager Tahsin Burcuoglu, it was stated that Turkey was extremely sensitive about Turkey, which would absolutely not tolerate the destruction of demographic structure of the city.

Wishing the Kirkuk problem to be resolved at the Constitutional system without creating ethnic conflict, Turkey conveyed that Kirkuk’s natural resources belonged to the Iraqi public and no sole ethnic group could have a right of word over the natural richness. Stating that Barzani’s statements about Kirkuk were met with astonishment, Ankara gave the message that Barzani should be careful with his statements from now on and be sensible.