By Robert H. Reid Associated Press BAGHDAD -- More than 1,000 Sunni Arabs and Turkomen rallied Saturday against Kurdish demands to incorporate the oil-rich area around Kirkuk into their autonomous region on the eve of a special session of parliament aimed at defusing the crisis.

Text of report in English by Turkish news agency Anatolia Diyarbakir, 27 February: Chairman of the Iraqi Turkoman Front (ITC) Sadettin Ergec indicated today that, in case of a civil war in Iraq, Turkey has the right to provide protection for the Turkomans in Iraq.

Tension was rising Saturday in the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk as residents say they fear an outbreak of civil war among the Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen.