Ankara says a deterioration in peace in the multiethnic Kirkuk would harm Iraq as a whole. Protests erupted on Monday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after four demonstrators were shot dead and 15 others were wounded in weekend clashes between ethnic groups. The demonstrators demanded that those responsible for the deaths be apprehended and brought to justice. The crowd said that if their demands were not met, they would organize larger protests. Shortly after the start of the rally, a large number of police and security forces were deployed to the area. The crowd later dispersed peacefully.
Protests erupted in the city after a controversial decision to hand over a building previously occupied by the Iraqi army to a party from northern Iraq governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Speaking to reporters in a prerecorded interview released on Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that any act disturbing the peace in Kirkuk would harm the stability of Iraq. Erdoğan said Turkish intelligence and the Foreign Ministry were closely following the developments in Kirkuk. "We see a relative calm in Kirkuk as we observed from (Turkish officials') talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mr. (Mohammed S.) Al Sudani and their counterparts. I instructed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) President Ibrahim Kalın to follow the developments. (Our officials) held talks with Al Sudani, with the Barzani family," he said, referring to an influential clan whose members include leaders of the KRG.
Erdoğan referred to Kirkuk as the "homeland of Turkmens," an ethnic Turkic community, and "a place where different cultures peacefully coexisted for centuries. "We will not allow acts that will harm the peace and integrity of this region," he said.
