"Kirkuk resembles a small Iraq and is not the registered property of any ethnic group," Erdogan told reporters here late Monday, the agency said.

He was responding to an assertion by the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massud Barzani, during an interview Monday with Turkish television, that Kirkuk was "the heart of Kurdistan".

"Such an attitude is very wrong with regards to Iraq's future. I believe such an attitude will overshadow peace, love and brotherhood in Iraq," Erdogan said.

Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds have long been at loggerheads over the future of Kirkuk which the Kurds want to incorporate it into their autonomous region although the city is also home to Arabs and Turkish-backed Turkmens.

Turkey charges that tens of thousands of Kurds have been moved into Kirkuk to change its demography ahead of a referendum on the city's status, scheduled to be held by the year-end.

Ankara is worried that Kurdish control of Kirkuk's oil reserves will boost what it sees as Kurdish aspirations to break away from Baghdad.

Kurdish independence, it fears, could fuel a long-running Kurdish insurgency in adjoining southeast Turkey, which has already claimed more than 37,000 lives.

The insurgency is led by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) whose rebels have found refuge in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

Ankara has grown increasingly impatient with US and Iraqi reluctance to move against the rebels and, earlier this month, Turkish army chief General Yasar Buyukanit accused Iraqi Kurds of "fully" supporting the PKK and providing it with explosives for bomb attacks in Turkey.

In Monday's interview, Barzani denied that Iraqi Kurds supported the PKK and called for face-to-face talks to end high-running tensions over the PKK presence in his autonomous region.

His appeal coincided with remarks by Turkish officials that they are ready to meet Iraqi Kurdish leaders to discuss the problem, contrary to earlier threats by Ankara of a cross-border military operation to crack down on the rebels.