Gul: Turkey Has Been Monitoring All Developments In Kirkuk And Adjacent Areas

ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday, ''Turkey has been monitoring all activities of Kurdish groups in Kirkuk city of Iraq and adjacent areas.''
In response to a motion submitted by MP Ummet Kandogan of the True Path Party (DYP) about recent developments in neighboring Iraq, Gul said, ''there has not been any change in Turkey's Iraq policy. We have been defending from the very beginning the idea that all sections of the Iraqi population should be represented on an equal footing in the administration, that Iraq should have good relations with neighboring countries and with the international community, and that Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity should be preserved.''
Underlining that Turkey was interested in Iraqi Turkmen people, Gul said, ''Turkmen people's rights should be protected in the new political, administrative and social structure of Iraq. Therefore, we have been monitoring developments in Iraq and their impacts on Turkmen people. We warn concerned parties to prevent any negative developments.''
''We have also been monitoring activities of Kurdish groups' in Kirkuk city and adjacent areas. On numerous occasions, Turkey drew attention of the Iraqi interim governing council, the neighboring countries with Iraq, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), the United Nations, and other international organizations that developments in Kirkuk could harm current political transition process in Iraq. Iraq's future political structure should be determined by free will of the Iraqi people through democratic methods,'' he said.
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Referring to the terrorist organization of PKK/KADEK/Kongra-Gel, Gul said, ''Iraqi authorities also acknowledged that presence of the terrorist organization in Iraq has jeopardized peace and stability in the region.''
''During the Sixth Meeting of the Regional Initiative on Iraq held in Egyptian capital Cairo on July 21st, participants agreed that they should fight against terrorism stemming from Iraq and threatening neighboring countries ,'' Gul added.
(UK-ULG) 22.09.2004