By Shamal Aqrawi ARBIL, Iraq, April 14 (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdistan's prime minister sought to ease tension with Ankara on Saturday after Turkey's top general called for a military operation in northern Iraq. The head of Turkey's military General Staff called for the operation days after Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said Iraqi Kurds would interfere in Turkey's mainly Kurdish cities if Ankara interfered in northern Iraq. Ankara is worried by what it sees as moves by Iraqi Kurds to build an independent state in northern Iraq, with the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk as its capital, fearing this could reignite separatism among its own Kurdish population. Barzani and other Kurdish officials have repeatedly indicated that the issue of Kirkuk is an internal Iraqi affair in which Turkey should not interfere. Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani adopted a softer approach: "The Iraqi constitution has specified the road map to solving the issue of Kirkuk. What was taken from us by force, we will get back by democratic means," he told a news conference in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. "If Turkey is worried about this issue, we are prepared to eliminate its fears," he said, adding he wanted bilateral talks. A referendum on the status of Kirkuk, which sits on some of Iraq's richest oil fields, is due by the end of 2007. Washington has reacted coolly to the Turkish general's remarks and earlier called Massoud Barzani's comments "unhelpful". The continued escalation in rhetoric has worried U.S. officials who see Kurdistan as a stable front in northern Iraq. "We are watching what is going on. There is a history here that we all understand. It is being viewed with a careful and cautious eye. There is interaction with members of the Iraqi government," said Rear Admiral Mark Fox, U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. Kurdistan has foreigner-friendly investment laws and many companies operating in the largely autonomous Kurdistan region are Turkish. The Kurdish premier also said Ankara could continue to expect preferential treatment for its companies in Kurdistan if it eased its position. "It is important to us that Turkey deals with the current situation in Iraqi Kurdistan," he said. "And it is possible that priority be given to Turkish companies working in the oil and construction sectors now and in the future to operate in Kurdistan," Nechirvan Barzani said. (Additional reporting by Ross Colvin in Baghdad)
