Turkey wary over status of Kirkuk

ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Turkey cautioned against moving too quickly on a referendum to settle the disputed status of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, officials said.

Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite Turkomen with the United Iraqi Alliance coalition, said Turkish President Abdullah Gul invited members from the ethnic community in Kirkuk to meet in Ankara to discuss the way forward on the disputed city, Turkey's daily newspaper Hurriyet reported Monday.

Iraq holds provincial elections in 14 of the 18 provinces Jan. 31. The vote is delayed in the three Kurdish provinces and Kirkuk because of territorial disputes.

Ethnic Kurds, Sunnis and Turkomen disagree over whether Kirkuk should be considered part of greater Iraq or Iraqi Kurdistan. The vote in Kirkuk is postponed indefinitely.

"The meeting of the representatives of the Iraqi components is related with (Turkish) approval and willingness to discuss this sensitive issue at a roundtable," Bayati told Baghdad's al-Sabah newspaper.

Turkey has expressed reservations on moving too swiftly on Kirkuk's status, saying haste may result in clashes between the ethnic groups in the region.