Ankara's leadership has expressed anger over quoted threats from Massud Barzani, president of Iraq's northern Kurdistan, to interfere in southeast Turkey where a two-decade old Kurdish rebellion has killed 37,000 people.

Barzani reportedly said Iraqi Kurds would fan unrest in the region if Ankara continued to oppose Iraqi Kurdish claims on the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

On Wednesday, Maliki's office issued a statement on his behalf, saying it was his government that decides on regional issues and not any single leader.

"The foreign policy of Iraq is planned and executed by the Iraqi government," said the statement quoting Maliki, who is currently on a trip to Tokyo and Seoul.

"This policy reflects our intention to maintain best relations with neighbours and does not aim to intervene in their affairs. At the same time we will not allow neighbours to intervene in our affairs."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has already telephoned his Turkish counterpart to express his regret over Barzani's remarks.

On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that hostility toward his country could result in a "very heavy cost" for Iraqi Kurds in the future. Barzani had "overstepped the line", he said.

Turkey wants a referendum on Kirkuk's future status, scheduled to be held this year, to be postponed, arguing that thousands of Kurds have been moved into the city to change its demography.

The ethnically volatile city is also home to Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen, who are backed by Ankara.

Turkey worries that Kurdish control of Kirkuk and its oil reserves would embolden what it believes are Kurdish ambitions to break away from Baghdad.

Kurdish independence, it fears, could fuel the separatist insurgency in southeast Turkey, led by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community.

Turkey charges that Iraqi Kurds tolerate, and even support, thousands of PKK rebels who have found refuge in the mountains of northern Iraq.