|
Turkey's foreign minister says foreign forces must
withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2005, and that Sunday's elections are a
first step toward returning control of Iraq to the Iraqi people.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters here Sunday that
it was too early to say whether elections in Iraq would be fully
representative. He was referring to Turkey's concerns that Iraqi Kurds
will likely dominate voting in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. Turkey has
accused the Iraqi Kurds of resettling tens-of-thousands of
their people in the province, in a bid to sway the election results in
their own favor.
Control of Kirkuk could enable Iraq's estimated four million Kurds to
establish an economically viable independent state, one that Turkey fears
would fan separatist sentiment among Turkey's own estimated 12 million
Kurds. Some analysts warn that Turkey's hawkish military may intervene in
Iraq to prevent the Kurds from forming their own homeland.
Mr. Gul added that he saw Sunday's elections as setting a timetable for
the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq. The United States has not
announced a calendar for pulling out of Iraq.
Mr. Gul's comments come ahead of a scheduled visit by U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice. Secretary Rice will be stopping in Ankara on
February 5, as part of a tour of European capitals and Israel.
Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqis voted at three polling stations in
Turkey, two in Istanbul and one in Ankara. A spokeswoman from the
International Organization for Migration, which is conducting the voting
program for Iraq expatriates on behalf of Iraq's Independent Electoral
Commission, said that turnout was high. No violence was reported at the
polling booths, which were heavily guarded by Turkish police. | 
