"Kirkuk or Where we arrived now as Turks and Kurds?
Former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who made the Turkish Cypriots feel better with the 1974 intervention, was also concerned about similar problems Turkmens were facing in Iraq. While he was prime minister, he wanted to bring the issue forward at the highest level, at the earliest opportunity. But he grabbed that opportunity as journalist when he visited Saddam twice during and after the first Gulf War.
'Karaoglan' (Dark Boy, a popular nickname which suggests a lovable daredevil) Ecevit asked when he met with Saddam Hussein at his palace in Baghdad, that is currently being used as military headquarters by the U. S. troops: 'Kirkuk will definitely be given to the Kurdish state if it is separated from Iraq. Isn't it suitable to say that it should be given to the Turkmens?' "
More:ZAMAN DAILY NEWSPAPER (2005013116093)