October 13, 2002	Sunday	Sha'aban 6, 1423

ISTANBUL, Oct 12: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Saturday said the decision by two Kurdish groups to name Kirkuk as the capital of their region in northern Iraq was a step “too far” for Turkey. But he ruled out any military deployment along the Iraqi border, saying the issue could be resolved peacefully.

“Such things are going too far,” Ecevit told journalists in response to an agreement by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on a constitution and the selection of Kirkuk as their capital.

The two groups have held sway in northern Iraq since the end of the 1991 war when the region was wrenched out of Baghdad’s control, but have only recently begun to cooperate as Washington stepped up the pressure on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The Turkish government has been worried that a US attack on Baghdad would give the Kurds an opportunity to establish an independent state, and fuel seperatism among Turkey’s considerable Kurdish minority.

“The situation is truly disturbing, it’s a situation which we can’t accept,” Ecevit said.

He added, however, that “these problems can be solved peacefully” and did not require the deployment of military forces on Iraqi the border.

In a television interview last Sunday Ecevit threatened military action to prevent the establishment of a Kurdish state.—AFP