Turkey's concern about north Iraq

The Turkish deputy prime minister Doulat Bahjali, who is also the chairman of the national movement party, said that Turkey has to reconsider its policies pursued regarding developments in north Iraq, as the Kurdish leaders who enjoy support from Turkey have taken steps to found an independent Kurdish entity in northern Iraq.

In a speech he delivered yesterday in Ankara, Bahjali added that the Turkman have been oppressed since 50 years. He indicated that the pressures which are imposed on the Turkman under Saddam Hussein were great and that they are at the meantime exposed to a new threat by the two Kurdish leaders Masoud al-Barazani and Jalal al-Talibani targeting their cities of al-Mousel, Karkouk and Irbil.

On the other hand, Istanbul yesterday witnessed a large gathering for Iraqi Turkman who called on the Turkish government to pressure the leaders of the Kurdish groups of al-Barazani and al-Talibani in order to give up the plan aiming at controlling the city of Karkouk and declaring it as a capital for Kurdistan.

The demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing the Kurdish leaders and stressing that Karkouk was and will be a castle for the Turkman.