Iraq Foreign Minister warns Turkey not to meddle in oil-rich Kirkuk

MANAMA, Bahrain: Turkey renewed its frustration on Sunday with the Kurdish bid for domination of Iraq's oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, which lies on Iraq's volatile ethnic fault lines between Arabs and Kurds.

Mehmet Vecdi Gonul, Turkey's defense minister, said Kirkuk's future status carries major implications for Turkey and Iraq's other neighbors no matter who controls the city and its surrounding oilfields. Gonul asked the Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish-led government not to impose an "unrealistic" future on Kirkuk.

But Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, warned Turkey not to meddle in "our Kirkuk."

"You speak of Kirkuk as if it is a Turkish city," Zebari said told Gonul. "These are matters for Iraq to decide."

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

Related Link:
Iraq Oil Wealth Distribution Planned