Kurdish president warns of foreign agendas

ERBIL, Iraq, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said foreign agendas should not drive Kurdish issues and warned further encroachment may divide Iraq.

Amid mounting acrimony over whether the city of Kirkuk should fall under Kurdish or greater Iraqi authority, Barzani pondered the heightened attention given to Kirkuk, considering the city of Mosul and Diyala province have similar ethnic components, The Kurdish Globe reported Thursday.

Lawmakers in Iraq are pursuing legislation to reverse the policies imposed by Saddam Hussein to redistribute the Kurdish population in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Such provisions are a main obstacle for Iraq in its attempt to move legislation forward for provincial elections, a key milestone in national reconciliation.

Barzani said he would not allow foreign agendas to influence the status of Kirkuk and warned that any violations of constitutional provisions seeking to reverse Saddam-era policies may ultimately "tear the country apart."

The president also denied allegations that Kurdish officials are influencing Iranian and Turkish Kurds to migrate to Kirkuk in order to influence the demographics of city, saying the allegations were baseless because many Iraqi Kurds have yet to return to the city.