Monday, February 14, 2005
Turkey expresses concern over Iraq poll results
Ankara, Turkey, Feb 14. (AP): Turkey urged Iraqi electoral officials and the United Nations to examine what it claimed were skewed Iraqi elections results released Sunday, saying it was particularly concerned about vote tallies in the oil-rich and ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.
Turkey has long complained that Kurdish groups were illegally moving Kurds into Kirkuk, a strategic northern city, in an effort to tip the city's population balance in their favor.
Turkish officials did not directly address that concern Sunday, but the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that voter turnout in some regions was low and charged that there were "imbalanced results'' in several regions, including Kirkuk.
"As a result the Iraqi Interim Parliament won't reflect the true proportions of Iraqi society,'' the statement said. "The flaws lead to serious hesitations as to whether the goal of an interim parliament can be achieved.''
Ankara fears that Kurdish domination of Kirkuk and oil fields near the city would make a Kurdish state in northern Iraq viable. Such a state, Turkish officials warn, could further inspire Turkey's own rebellious Kurds, who have been battling the Turkish army in southeastern Turkey since 1984.
Sunday's statement called on the election board to seriously consider objections to the vote and urged the United Nations to take a "more active role'' and ensure that "the flaws, the disorder and irregularities'' of the poll were not repeated when Iraqis vote on a new constitution later this year.
Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims won nearly half the votes in the nation's Jan 30 election, giving the community significant power but not enough parliamentary seats to form a government on its own.
Two key Kurdish parties gained just over a quarter of votes cast, giving them considerable support in the national assembly to preserve Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq.
In Kirkuk, Kurds took to the streets to celebrate the results of the election. Cars sped through the streets blaring their horns and waving Kurdistan flags through a city that is fiercely divided between Sunni Muslim Arabs and Kurds.
Copyright © 2005, The Hindu.