WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The Iraqi city of Kirkuk could be a flashpoint if land disputes among rival ethnic groups are not resolved, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said.
"You are correct to point to Kirkuk as a potential flash point if the land ownership issues aren't managed very carefully," he told reporters from NATO nations earlier this week.
The U.S. State Department released the transcript of the interview Friday.
The Kurds, who had their land expropriated by Saddam Hussein, are expelling Arabs from Kirkuk and Mosul, two towns under their control. Armitage said the United States had from the beginning of its presence in Iraq tried to resolve the disputes "primarily in Kirkuk more than Mosul."
He added Washington was "pleased thus far that civil war has not come forward."
Prior to the Iraq war, Kurds enjoyed autonomy in Saddam's Iraq because of the U.S.- and Britain-imposed no-fly zones on their part of the country. The former Iraqi leader persecuted Kurds and at one point used chemical weapons against them.
