A U.N. report on the status of a number of disputed Iraqi areas, including the oil-rich Kirkuk province, is broadly compatible with the Turkish government's views, daily Hurriyet reports on its Web site Thursday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said the government hopes the report "would make a contribution to the settlement of the issue," the newspaper says.
The Kurdish population lay claim to Iraq's northern oil hub, which they want to make the capital of an autonomous region. This is contested by the province's Turkmen minority and its large Arab population, many of whom were deliberately settled in the province under the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein so as to dilute its Kurdish majority.
The U.N. said it had come up with four options for Kirkuk, Agence France-Presse reported in April.