"Turkey cautions Iraq over Kurdish voters in oil-rich Kirkuk
Posted: Sunday January 16,2005 - 04:26:56 am
ANKARA (AFP) - A senior Turkish official has cautioned Iraqi electoral authorities to reject the registration of Kurdish voters in Kirkuk who are not legally entitled to vote in the oil-rich northern city.
AFP/Hurriyet/File Photo
The official was speaking after the Kurds reached a deal with the Iraqi government Friday that cleared the way for an estimated 100,000 Kurds expelled from Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein 's regime, to vote for the new government in Tamim province, where the city is located, in the January 30 elections.
The deal effectively tipped the region's balance of power to the Kurds, at the risk of enflaming tensions in the ethnically volatile city.
Ankara is vehemently opposed to Kurdish control of Kirkuk, which many Kurds want to see as the capital of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq , a nightmare scenario for Iraq's neighbors. "
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