Turkey expressed concerns on Friday over statement that the Iraqi constitution being drafted might grant Kurdish people referendum right to determine their own fate.

"Turkey believed that Iraqi people will not allow such a possibility," Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan told a weekly news briefing on Friday.

"If there are people who target division in Iraq in the short or medium term, this will not only be a problem concerning Iraq," he added.

Tan said Turkey considers the political process in Iraq and preparations for the new constitution as efforts aimed at taking under guarantee Iraq's unity and territorial integrity.

It was reported that Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani had made a statement after meeting the US Ambassador in Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad.

Barzani said the two sides agreed to make necessary arrangements in Iraqi constitution to grant Kurdish people referendum right to determine their own fate after eight years.

In the meantime, Tan noted Turkey closely monitors the developments pertaining to residence registration of thousands of Kurds in Kirkuk city of Iraq.

He was referring to reports that thousands of Kurds began formally registering as residents of Kirkuk in a bid to make Kurds the ethnic majority in the province and therefore bolster Kurdish claims to this oil-rich region.

There are about 12 million Kurds living in Turkey.

The outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) took up arms for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey in 1984 and its conflicts with the government forces have claimed more than 30,000 lives since then.

Source: Xinhua