"Turks and Kirkuk
Ankara worries that sooner or later Kurds will seek the freedom and self-determination that Bush has declared a universal right.
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By Simon Tisdall
Feb. 15, 2005 |
Kurdish successes in Iraq's elections, notably in the disputed oil center of Kirkuk, have heightened Turkey's worries about a future Kurdish drive for independence and Iraq's consequent territorial disintegration.
With domestic pressure increasing on Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ministers have hinted at renewed military intervention. This is causing additional strains in Ankara's relations with the United States. Turkish concerns focus on the area around multiethnic Kirkuk, where the Brotherhood slate allied to the Kurdish Alliance of Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani won 59 percent of the provincial council vote. The Turkoman Front, representing a minority that Ankara has vowed to protect, took 18 percent. "
More:Salon.com News | Turks and Kirkuk
