[neverdem]

Kirkuk, a multiethnic city with a Kurdish, ethnic Turkish populations, Arab, Christian -- but Kurds have been the strongest group in the city since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Maybe AP frequently omits the byline because the writers took English as second language.

[1LongTimeLurker]

``This could lead to an independent Kurdish state,'' Basbug said. ``There could be clashes, these clashes could trigger an internal war in Iraq.''

The Turks ought to read Bush's speech last week if they are even remotely harboring the thought of attacking any attempts by the Kurds to establish their own autonomy. Bush isn't going to let the Kurds get stomped on like Clinton did.

[bill1952]

Mere saber rattling, and singing to the choir.

[Bohemund]

The same Turks who refused us permission to invade Iraq from their territory, meaning that the Sunni strongholds in the Northeast could not be pacified by the 4th Infantry Division in the opening days of the war?

Turkey's hands are covered in the blood of every American and Kurd killed by a Sunni holdout who otherwise would have been wiped on the unopened Northern front.

[Gingersnap]

Turkey Warns Kurds About Kirkuk Control

I'm sure I'm only person here who thought the headline itself was funny.

(I'm a heartless poli sci jerk.)

[ccmay]

The perfidious Turks lost their chance to have a say in Iraq's future when they refused to open the northern front in 2003. The kurds need to tell Turkey to shove it, and we need to stand behind the Kurds.

-ccm

[AmericaUnited]

If I were King... The Kurds would run the entire country of Iraq.

[chava]

"Hundreds of thousands of Kurds migrated to Kirkuk and registered to vote,'' Gen. Ilker Basbug, deputy head of the Turkish military, said at a news conference. ``This could make the results of the elections questionable.''

First, hundreds of thousands of Kurds have not "migrated" to Kerkuk. The US military official in this article estimates 30,000 Kurds have returned to the province, not the city. The last I heard there were some 10,000 Kurds who had been removed from their homes in Kerkuk as a result of arabization, and these Kurds had returned to a camp outside Kerkuk, living in extreme conditions and waiting to return to their homes. How many have returned to the province is something I don't know, but given Turkey's extreme prejudice against Kurds, I'm inclined to believe the US military estimate.

Second, the Turkish government is annoyed that an agreement has been reached within Iraq to allow the displaced Kerkukis to vote as part of their original province. Such an agreement will make the elections questionable only in the eyes of Turkey and the Turkish general staff.