The United States criticized Iraqi Turkish leader Massud Barzani on Monday for his comments over threatening to intervene in Turkish affairs.

"We think that those kinds of statements are really unhelpful and they certainly do not further the goal of greater Turkish- Iraqi cooperation on issues of common concern, including fighting the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers Party)," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing.

"We worked hard on that issue, trying to bring together the Iraqis as well as the Turkish government to find a way to deal with that important issue," McCormack said, adding that Turkey has made efforts on behalf of Iraq in organizing a conference of Iraq's neighbors.

In a weekend interview with the Al Arabiya television, Barzani, head of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, threatened to interfere in Turkey's affairs if Turkey continues to oppose Kurdish claims on oil-rich Kirkuk.

Turkey has been worried about Kirkuk, under Kurdish control, breaking away from Iraq and thus fuelling the separatist Kurdish insurgency in southeast Turkey.

According to media reports, the future of Kirkuk is scheduled to be decided in a referendum before the end of this year, but Turkey wants the referendum to be delayed.

Source: Xinhua