ANKARA, Feb 16 (AFP) - Turkey called Wednesday for a "comprehensive presence" of international observers to check any irregularities at a referendum on Iraq's constitution this year.
"We hope the deficiencies, disorder and irregularities that ocurred in the January 30 elections will not recur during the constitutional referendum ... planned to be held in Iraq this year," foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan told a news conference.
"We believe a comprehensive presence of international observers at this referendum and the elections (that will follow) is an absolute must, on which work should start from now," he said.
Turkey, Iraq's northern neighbor, criticized Iraq's January 30 elections as skewed and called for steps to balance for the under-representation of some ethnic and religious groups.
Ankara is particularly irked by the strong gains in northern Iraq of the Kurds, who came second after the main Shiite alliance.
The Kurds also won the majority in local polls in the ethnically volatile, oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which many want to see as the capital of a future independent Kurdish state.
Ankara protested when large numbers of Kurds said to have been expelled from Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein were allowed to settle and vote in the city despite protests by rival communities -- including Turkish-speaking Turkmens -- that many of them had no bonds with Kirkuk.
Turkey fears that Kurdish control of Kirkuk's oil reserves, among the largest in Iraq, may encourage the Kurds to break away from Baghdad, which in turn could fan separatism among its own restive Kurdish minority.
"It is a fact that the most irregularities ocurred in Kirkuk," Tan said. "Kirkuk is an Iraqi city... and no single group should establish dominance over it."
Ankara has warned it might take action if ethnic turmoil was to erupt in Kirkuk.
According to Iraq's interim basic law, the parliament has until August 15 to draft a permanent constitution that will then be submitted to a popular referendum.
02/16/2005 13:31 GMT - AFP