Iraq rejects Turkish interference, threatens 'economic pressure'

BAGHDAD, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Iraq accused Turkish politicians on Monday of fomenting division in its northern areas and said it might bring some form of economic pressure to bear on Ankara.

Turkey has accused Iraqi Kurds of systematically settling the city of Kirkuk, at the expense of resident Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen, with the aim of incorporating its oil wealth into an independant Kurdish state. That, Ankara fears, could in turn fan Kurdish separatism on its own territory.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the cabinet had held a meeting to discuss "interference by neighbouring countries" and singled out two recent conferences in Turkey where Turkish politicians had hinted at military intervention.

"These statements give the wrong message and they aim to incite prejudice and deepen divisions between the various sides in Iraq," Dabbagh, who also complained of Syrian and Iranian interference, told a news conference.

"The Iraqi government may use economic pressure against these states," Dabbagh said. "The Iraqi government is the only one that will intervene in Iraqi domestic affairs."

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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