KurdistanObserver.com

Ankara Still Sides with Saddam and Warns Kurds to Maintain Saddam's Legacy of Ethnic Cleansing

Jan 29, 2005

The Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul warned the KDP leader Massoud Barzani and PUK leader Jalal Talabani yesterday not to take steps that would "jeopardize Iraq's political integrity."

Commenting on the developments in the city of Kirkuk in Southern Kurdistan, Gul said "nobody should expect Ankara to sit back and watch if developments there destabilize neighboring Iraq, and spoiling the demographic structure of Kirkuk would be a serious threat for the future of all of Iraq. Turkey is very worried about the reports of the demographic manipulation," Gul told the Turkish Daily News.

For his part, the Kurdish official, Hoshiar Zebari addressed the latest warings from Turkey by saying that Kirkuk is an Iraqi Kurd city, that questions regarding Kirkuk are an internal Iraqi affair, adding that foreigners are not welcome to interfer in Iraqi affairs.