Iraqi Turkmen tell U.S. ambassador to stop meddling in domestic affairs

[sabra]

Source: Azzaman (Iraq Daily)

Iraqi ethnic Turks, known locally as Turkmen, have asked U.S. ambassador to Iraq, James F. Jeffrey, to stop meddling in Iraqi internal affairs.

A statement by the Turkmen Front, a political umbrella for ethnic Turks in Iraq, accused Jeffrey of heightening ethnic and sectarian tensions in the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Kirkuk is a mixed province where Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen all claim it to themselves. But the Kurds have deployed their militias in the city and currently hold joint patrols with U.S. invasion troops there.

“We call on the U.S. ambassador to put an end to his meddling in internal issues. We do not want him to become a factor deepening Kirkuk’s problems,” the statement, a copy of which was faxed to the newspaper, said.

The statement was particularly critical of Jeffrey’s call for the implementation of a paragraph in the constitution which if translated into action may lead to full Kurdish control of the province with its massive oil riches.

Read more: http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/2011-01-19/kurd.htm

[Paper Roses]

1. How many more ways can the people of Iraq, Afghanistan

and other countries of the Middle East going to tell us to go home. Don't meddle. Let us run our own countries.

Do we listen? No. We are bullies and have no business dictating to other countries how to run their affairs.

We need to bring the troops and all equipment home. Now.

We need to fix our own affairs.