ANKARA, Dec 31 (AFP) - 18h17 - Turkey on Wednesday implicitly warned Iraqi Kurds to avoid provoking other ethnic groups in the war-torn country after an anti-Kurdish demonstration in northern Iraq ended in bloodshed.
"Some groups should not be allowed to harm the much-desired atmosphere of peace and national consensus through discourse and acts based on ethnic nationality," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
Ankara’s warning came after three people were killed and 31 others were wounded when Kurdish gunmen opened fire on a demonstration by Arabs and Turkmens -- a minority of Turkish origin -- in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
The demonstrators were protesting at a push by the city’s Kurdish majority to incorporate the oil centre into an autonomous Kurdish province, a move that has already been rejected by Turkey as a recipe for new tensions.
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http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=4576