| Turkey has dropped its opposition to a federal structure in neighbouring Iraq guaranteeing broad autonomy for the countryâs Kurds, a senior Iraqi Kurdish leader was quoted as saying on Saturday. Ankara has long been concerned that self-rule for the Kurds of northern Iraq could re-ignite secessionist violence among its own Kurdish population in southeastern Turkey. But Masoud Barzani, leader of one of the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties, said a visiting delegation of high-level Turkish officials had recently signalled a more relaxed attitude towards the issue of Kurdish autonomy. â(They) told us Turkey was not opposed to the granting of federal status to Iraqi Kurdistan within the structure of a unified Iraq,â NTV television quoted Barzani as saying. Barzani said Turkey and Iraqâs other neighbours with their own Kurdish population, Iran and Syria, had to accept that his people had a right to self-determination. âThese countries have to realise the Kurds are a people with certain rights... They must respond with understanding towards these rights and demonstrate a civilised, democratic approach. Thus their own national unity can be strengthened,â he said. âIf these rights are disregarded and if the Kurds are not treated in a civilised manner, the problems will increase.â |