Iraq polls may be skewed: Turkish premier

Tayyip Erdogan said low voter turnout by some groups in Iraqi elections could skew the results and lead to chaos.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply criticized the US-led coalition in neighbouring Iraq on Tuesday and said that low voter turnout by some groups in Iraqi elections could skew the results and lead to chaos.

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Erdogan said that authorities failed to heed Turkish warnings ahead of the polls -- an apparent reference to warnings that Kurds could end up dominating the multiethnic and oil-rich city of Kirkuk in Iraq's north and other warnings that Sunnis would have a low turnout and be underrepresented.

"Unfortunately, some elements that disturb us have emerged in the election process. We are concerned that some segments did not participate in the elections at the level that we had hoped for and the possibility that results may display an imbalanced picture in ethnic terms," Erdogan told lawmakers from his governing party in a speech in Ankara.

"I'd like to inform powers responsible for providing order about our nation's sorrow that the necessary sensitivity was not shown," Erdogan said.