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International Herald Tribune, France
Jan 28 2007
Tension on the rise between Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs over Kirkuk's
fate
The Associated PressPublished: January 28, 2007
KIRKUK, Iraq: When Abdul-Karim Wadi, a Shiite Arab, got what amounted
to thousands of dollars cash and a free apartment to move to Kirkuk
from Baghdad 18 years ago, he says he didn't know he was a tool of
Saddam Hussein's campaign to flood the ethnically mixed, oil-rich
city with Arabs.
Now, Wadi says, Kirkuk is home and he has no plans to leave. He's
trying to ride out the increasing outbreaks of ethnic tension, a
symptom of a deeper struggle for the city's future - a complex tangle
of ancient ethnic antagonism and hardball 21st century struggle for
oil resources.
The Arab and Turkmen population in Kirkuk are fighting Kurdish
efforts to join the city - they call it the "Jerusalem of the Kurds"
- to the their semiautonomous region just to the north. Thrown into
that ethnic cauldron are Armenian and Assyrian-Chaldean Christian
minorities.
Turkey, Iraq's northern neighbor, has compounded the troubles over
Kirkuk as it exerts heavy pressure on the Iraqi government to protect
the interests of the Turkmen, ethnic Turks who once were the majority
in the city. Ankara seeks to assure that Kirkuk remains a part of
Arab Iraq.
Turkey's motivation is simple. It continues to face harassing attacks
by Kurdish guerrillas who cross freely from Kurdish regions in
northern Iraq to fight with their ethnic brethren who live in
southeastern Turkey and have been fighting a secessionist war since
1984.
Turkey fears that the economic boom to Iraq's Kurdish region, should
it gain control over the Kirkuk oil fields, could further embolden
Kurds inside Turkey in their bid for autonomy or statehood.
Iraqi Kurds, including some who hold high positions in the Baghdad
government - President Jalal Talabani for one - have accused Turkey
of interfering in Iraqi internal affairs through recent statements
that Kirkuk must not be annexed to the Kurdish region in Iraq's
north.
On Sunday, Barham Saleh, a Kurd who is deputy prime minister, met
Turkey's ambassador to reject the Turkish stand.
"The fate of Kirkuk and other local issues will be dealt with through
the will of the Iraqi people and the constitution," Saleh's office
said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, also a Kurd, met in Switzerland
Friday with Abdullah Gul, his Turkish counterpart, and rejected what
he called Turkish interference in the Kirkuk and statements about the
rights of the Turkmen, saying both were "a purely Iraqi matter."
Since the ouster of Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago, Arabs and
Turkmen have accused the Kurds of moving thousands of their people
back into the city to gain a majority in a referendum later this year
to determine Kirkuk's future.
The last census in Iraq that showed ethic breakdowns was in 1957,
well before Saddam began his program to Arabize Kirkuk. That count
showed 178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkmen, 43,000 Arabs and 10,000
Assyrian-Chaldean Christians lived in the city.
Kirkuk, an ancient city that once was part of the Ottoman Empire,
subsequently witnessed a major deportation of Kurds in conjunction
with the forced influx of Arabs during Saddam's 23-year rule. He
forced Kurds into refugee camps in the Kurdish provinces of
Sulaimaniyah, Irbil and Dahuk.
Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, tens of thousands,
perhaps as many as 100,000, of those deported have returned to their
hometown, local officials say.
Kirkuk is the capital of Tamim province, where the population is
estimated at 1 million. There are no good figures today about ethnic
percentages that make up that total, although most officials agree
that Kurds are now the majority, with Turkmen and Arabs about tied
for second position.
Those estimates are based on the results of the December 2005
election in which Kurds took 26 seats on the 41-member Provincial
Council. Turkmen had nine, Arabs five and Assyrian Christians one.
Arab and Turkmen members suspended participation in the provincial
council in November, charging unfair Kurdish dominance.
Article 140 of the new Iraqi constitution stipulates that Kirkuk's
status must be resolved by the end of the year. No date has been set
yet for the referendum, and Arabs and Turkmen reject the
constitutional directive. Kurds want it enforced in hopes of annexing
Tamim province and, therefore, Kirkuk, to the Kurdistan
semiautonomous region.
The U.S. Iraq Study Group, headed by former U.S. Secretary of State
James A. Baker III and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton
said in its report released in December that "given the very
dangerous situation in Kirkuk, international arbitration is necessary
to avert communal violence. A referendum on the future of Kirkuk
would be explosive and should be delayed."
Hundreds Kurds demonstrated in Kirkuk against the report.
Rizgar Ali, a Kurd who heads the provincial council, also criticized
what he called Turkish interference in Iraq's affairs, saying "the
question of Kirkuk has solutions and mechanisms that the Iraqi
politicians and people agreed to according to article 140 of the Iraq
constitution. This is an internal Iraqi affair and no country should
stand against that."
"These countries should stand with our democratic project not to
block it," said Ali, an official in Talabani's Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan.
Jamal Abdullah Chan of the Iraqi Turkmen Front accuses the Kurds of
trying to drive ethnic Turks from the city with bomb attacks on
predominantly Turkmen that have killed or wounded scores.
"There is a political plan to force Turkmen to leave Kirkuk in order
to empty it from its people, even though we see Kirkuk as an Iraqi
city with Turkmen culture," Chan said.
Unlike Kurdish officials, Chan sees Turkey's stance "as supportive to
Iraq's unity especially that Kirkuk is a regional and international
matter because of its multicultural nature."
He said paragraph 140 of the constitution should be excised or its
implementation delayed.
Arabs in the city see the plan to annex Kirkuk to the Kurdish region
as part of a campaign to divide Iraq.
"The stance of Arab countries and Turkey is aimed at salvaging Iraq
from the increasing violence and attempts to tear it apart," said
Abdul-Rahman Munshid al-Asi, an Arab tribal leader in the city.
Wadi, the Shiite Arab who settled here 18 years ago, insists - along
with many others in the polyglot city - that the referendum and
Kirkuk's final status won't force him to abandon his 18-year roots.
"Kirkuk is a beautiful city. It's pleasant to live here. It is not
easy for a person to leave it. If they ask me to leave, I will say
'no' even if they annex it to Kurdistan," Wadi said.
___
Mroue reported from Baghdad.
Jan 28 2007
Tension on the rise between Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs over Kirkuk's
fate
The Associated PressPublished: January 28, 2007
KIRKUK, Iraq: When Abdul-Karim Wadi, a Shiite Arab, got what amounted
to thousands of dollars cash and a free apartment to move to Kirkuk
from Baghdad 18 years ago, he says he didn't know he was a tool of
Saddam Hussein's campaign to flood the ethnically mixed, oil-rich
city with Arabs.
Now, Wadi says, Kirkuk is home and he has no plans to leave. He's
trying to ride out the increasing outbreaks of ethnic tension, a
symptom of a deeper struggle for the city's future - a complex tangle
of ancient ethnic antagonism and hardball 21st century struggle for
oil resources.
The Arab and Turkmen population in Kirkuk are fighting Kurdish
efforts to join the city - they call it the "Jerusalem of the Kurds"
- to the their semiautonomous region just to the north. Thrown into
that ethnic cauldron are Armenian and Assyrian-Chaldean Christian
minorities.
Turkey, Iraq's northern neighbor, has compounded the troubles over
Kirkuk as it exerts heavy pressure on the Iraqi government to protect
the interests of the Turkmen, ethnic Turks who once were the majority
in the city. Ankara seeks to assure that Kirkuk remains a part of
Arab Iraq.
Turkey's motivation is simple. It continues to face harassing attacks
by Kurdish guerrillas who cross freely from Kurdish regions in
northern Iraq to fight with their ethnic brethren who live in
southeastern Turkey and have been fighting a secessionist war since
1984.
Turkey fears that the economic boom to Iraq's Kurdish region, should
it gain control over the Kirkuk oil fields, could further embolden
Kurds inside Turkey in their bid for autonomy or statehood.
Iraqi Kurds, including some who hold high positions in the Baghdad
government - President Jalal Talabani for one - have accused Turkey
of interfering in Iraqi internal affairs through recent statements
that Kirkuk must not be annexed to the Kurdish region in Iraq's
north.
On Sunday, Barham Saleh, a Kurd who is deputy prime minister, met
Turkey's ambassador to reject the Turkish stand.
"The fate of Kirkuk and other local issues will be dealt with through
the will of the Iraqi people and the constitution," Saleh's office
said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, also a Kurd, met in Switzerland
Friday with Abdullah Gul, his Turkish counterpart, and rejected what
he called Turkish interference in the Kirkuk and statements about the
rights of the Turkmen, saying both were "a purely Iraqi matter."
Since the ouster of Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago, Arabs and
Turkmen have accused the Kurds of moving thousands of their people
back into the city to gain a majority in a referendum later this year
to determine Kirkuk's future.
The last census in Iraq that showed ethic breakdowns was in 1957,
well before Saddam began his program to Arabize Kirkuk. That count
showed 178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkmen, 43,000 Arabs and 10,000
Assyrian-Chaldean Christians lived in the city.
Kirkuk, an ancient city that once was part of the Ottoman Empire,
subsequently witnessed a major deportation of Kurds in conjunction
with the forced influx of Arabs during Saddam's 23-year rule. He
forced Kurds into refugee camps in the Kurdish provinces of
Sulaimaniyah, Irbil and Dahuk.
Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, tens of thousands,
perhaps as many as 100,000, of those deported have returned to their
hometown, local officials say.
Kirkuk is the capital of Tamim province, where the population is
estimated at 1 million. There are no good figures today about ethnic
percentages that make up that total, although most officials agree
that Kurds are now the majority, with Turkmen and Arabs about tied
for second position.
Those estimates are based on the results of the December 2005
election in which Kurds took 26 seats on the 41-member Provincial
Council. Turkmen had nine, Arabs five and Assyrian Christians one.
Arab and Turkmen members suspended participation in the provincial
council in November, charging unfair Kurdish dominance.
Article 140 of the new Iraqi constitution stipulates that Kirkuk's
status must be resolved by the end of the year. No date has been set
yet for the referendum, and Arabs and Turkmen reject the
constitutional directive. Kurds want it enforced in hopes of annexing
Tamim province and, therefore, Kirkuk, to the Kurdistan
semiautonomous region.
The U.S. Iraq Study Group, headed by former U.S. Secretary of State
James A. Baker III and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton
said in its report released in December that "given the very
dangerous situation in Kirkuk, international arbitration is necessary
to avert communal violence. A referendum on the future of Kirkuk
would be explosive and should be delayed."
Hundreds Kurds demonstrated in Kirkuk against the report.
Rizgar Ali, a Kurd who heads the provincial council, also criticized
what he called Turkish interference in Iraq's affairs, saying "the
question of Kirkuk has solutions and mechanisms that the Iraqi
politicians and people agreed to according to article 140 of the Iraq
constitution. This is an internal Iraqi affair and no country should
stand against that."
"These countries should stand with our democratic project not to
block it," said Ali, an official in Talabani's Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan.
Jamal Abdullah Chan of the Iraqi Turkmen Front accuses the Kurds of
trying to drive ethnic Turks from the city with bomb attacks on
predominantly Turkmen that have killed or wounded scores.
"There is a political plan to force Turkmen to leave Kirkuk in order
to empty it from its people, even though we see Kirkuk as an Iraqi
city with Turkmen culture," Chan said.
Unlike Kurdish officials, Chan sees Turkey's stance "as supportive to
Iraq's unity especially that Kirkuk is a regional and international
matter because of its multicultural nature."
He said paragraph 140 of the constitution should be excised or its
implementation delayed.
Arabs in the city see the plan to annex Kirkuk to the Kurdish region
as part of a campaign to divide Iraq.
"The stance of Arab countries and Turkey is aimed at salvaging Iraq
from the increasing violence and attempts to tear it apart," said
Abdul-Rahman Munshid al-Asi, an Arab tribal leader in the city.
Wadi, the Shiite Arab who settled here 18 years ago, insists - along
with many others in the polyglot city - that the referendum and
Kirkuk's final status won't force him to abandon his 18-year roots.
"Kirkuk is a beautiful city. It's pleasant to live here. It is not
easy for a person to leave it. If they ask me to leave, I will say
'no' even if they annex it to Kurdistan," Wadi said.
___
Mroue reported from Baghdad.