BAGHDAD- Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, plans to make a statement on Tuesday urging the Kurdish factions to avoid civil war, Erbil-based Rudaw TV said.

The statement would be Barzani's first since the takover of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk by Iraqi government forces on Monday.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by John Stonestreet) ((maher.chmaytelli@thomsonreuters.com; +9647901917030;))