KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) -- Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani on Friday emphasized the Kurdish nature of the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, as he made his first visit since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

“I have come to send a message of peace to Kirkuk which is both a city of Kurdistan and of Iraq,” the president of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan told reporters as he toured the city.
Kirkuk is a mixed city with a Kurdish majority but substantial Arab and Turkmen minorities and has been a source of at times deadly ethnic tension since the fall of Saddam.
Iraq's parliament has proposed evenly dividing powers on the regional council between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen but the Kurds are bitterly opposed, pointing to their superior numbers.
“All the elements in this city must live together because the time when the strong could eat the weak is over. I came here to banish the fear and improve the atmosphere between the different elements,” said Barzani.
But in a sign of the continued divisions between the ethnic groups in the city, his visit was boycotted by representatives of both the Iraqi Turkmen Front and the United Arab Bloc.
“I invited people to this meeting who are not in agreement with us but they did not come. In any case, they do not represent all the Arabs and Turkmen and when they are ready to talk we will be too,” said Barzani.
Saddam placed Kirkuk outside the region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which has behaved essentially as an independent entity since 1991.
But Iraqi Kurds, many of whom see Kirkuk's oil wealth as vital to the future viability of their region, have called for the city to be placed within the autonomous region.
The failure to find a solution for Kirkuk's regional council has forced the postponement of local elections in Iraq initially scheduled for October 1.