ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has said that everybody knew about Turkey's sensitivities towards Kirkuk and it should be known that Turkey did not allow any fait accompli in Kirkuk, and they had been properly telling these to everybody.
Speaking to reporters following his meeting with Iraqi Turkmen Front Chairman Faruk Abdullah Abdurrahman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gul said that they wished that Iraq would democratically reach peace, tranquility and stability and everybody would take his share from prosperity by preserving Iraq's political and territorial integrity in transition period.
''This is all what Turkey is sensitive to and it has been contributing in line with these sensitivities. We have been closely following every development that may damage it and we have been making our warnings,'' Gul said.
Reminded of New Yorker magazine's claim about Israel's joint activities with Kurds in north of Iraq, Gul said, ''we have been closely monitoring all developments in Iraq. Several news and information come from time to time. We make necessary warnings about them. Everybody knows about our sensitivities especially regarding Kirkuk. Everybody knows well that we absolutely won't allow any fait accompli there.''
''We wish that Iraq would democratically reach peace, tranquility and stability and everybody would take his share from prosperity by preserving Iraq's political and territorial integrity in this transition period,'' he said.
Reminded of news about change in Turkey's Iraq policy, Gul said that those news were quite wrong, underlining that ''all Iraqi people would decide on future of Iraq'' by preserving Iraq's political and territorial integrity.
Asked of Turkey's point of view on a federative structure in north of Iraq, Gul said, ''a thing on which all Iraqi people will decide is important. One of things to which Turkey ultimately attributes importance is that structures which may give rise to divisions in the future are very dangerous, we don't approve of them. However, we of course respect the issues on which Iraqi people will altogether decide by taking notice of their own realities in Iraq's history.''
Recalled of the news about message to Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani that Turkey would not oppose to a federative structure in the north of Iraq, Gul said that it was not true. Recalling that Turkey's Special Envoy to Iraq had met with Barzani in the north of Iraq and they would have a meeting with Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani in Ankara on Tuesday, Gul said that they had clearly expressed Turkey's opinions about the issue.
When a reporter said the United States did not have a positive stance towards an action against terrorist organization PKK/KONGRA-GEL, Gul said, ''our opinions are quite clear. We always expect a country which has the authoritative status in Iraq to take necessary steps against an organization which is called terrorist.''
Speaking on Qatar's al-Jazzera television channel on June 18, KDP leader Barzani said that Turkey no more opposed to ''granting Iraqi Kurdistan federal status within structure of a unified Iraq'' and it had been conveyed to them.
High-level diplomatic sources told the A.A after Barzani's statement that Turkey would not oppose to a structure in north of Iraq provided that ''it remained within Iraq's territorial integrity'' and ''was defined in Iraq's constitution''.
(MS-AÖ) 21.06.2004