Turkey Warns Iraq Not To Involve Kurdish Administration In Oil Trade
The Associated Press
January 29, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey
Turkey warned Iraq Monday not to involve the Kurdish administration in northern
Iraq in oil business between the two countries.
The warning came after Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization asked Turkish
companies to seek permission from the Iraqi Kurdish government when doing deals
with Iraq's oil-rich north.
State Minister Kursad Tuzmen, who is in charge of foreign trade, said Turkey
would only deal "with the central Iraqi government" and not with Iraqi Kurdish
authorities, adding that he has sent Iraqi authorities a "strong letter,"
outlining Turkey's stance.
Tuzmen's warning to Iraq came amid unconfirmed reports that Turkey has halted
or slowed down export of oil products to neighboring Iraq in alleged retaliation
after Iraq's state oil company, SOMO, asked Turkish firms, whose contracts were
about to expire, to deal with local Iraqi Kurdish authorities to obtain new
contracts earlier this month.
Turkey is concerned about the growing power of Iraqi Kurds and has repeatedly
warned Iraqi Kurdish groups against trying to seize control of the oil-rich city
of Kirkuk, saying Turkey will not stand by amid growing tensions among ethnic
Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds in Iraq's oil-rich north.
"If Turkey is ... tested, then the price of it would be dear," Tuzmen warned.
"If there is a serious state, it must stand behind its signatures."
Tuzmen said Turkish authorities have failed to contact Iraqi oil officials at
SOMO despite repeated efforts to seek clarification on the issue. Turkey had
suspended sales of oil products to Iraq on Jan. 19, 2006 after SOMO's debts to
Turkish companies exceeded $1 billion. The suspension was lifted in April.
Iraqi Kurds, who claim the region as their own and hope to eventually include
Kirkuk in a region of self-rule in northern Iraq, accused Turkey of interfering
in Iraqi internal affairs.
Turkey fears Iraq's Kurds want Kirkuk's lucrative oil to fund a bid for
independence that could encourage separatist Kurdish guerrillas in Turkey, who
have been fighting for autonomy since 1984.
Kirkuk, an ancient city that once was part of the Ottoman Empire, has a large
minority of ethnic Turks as well as Christians, Shiite and Sunni Arabs,
Armenians and Assyrians.
Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, thousands of Kurds pushed out of
the region under Saddam Hussein's rule have returned.
Kirkuk lies just south of the autonomous Kurdish region stretching across
Iraq's northeast. Kurdish leaders want to annex the city, and Iraq's
constitution calls for a referendum on the issue by the end of next year.
