Friday, July 13, 2007
Arabs in Kirkuk reject draft oil law
Oil
(Azzaman) - Iraqi Arabs in the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk have thrown their weight behind groups opposing the new draft oil law. The Arab Consultative Council in Kirkuk, an umbrella group for Arabs in the area, said the draft in its current shape puts “narrow regional interests” above national interests. In a statement, the council urged the parliament to turn down the draft unless it is substantially revised.
The government has passed the draft to the parliament after approving it, sparking a torrent of criticism from various political factions. The opponents of the draft say the draft in its current shape is bound to create further divisions and disparity among the country’s ethnic groups and sects. They want the central government and not Iraqi autonomous regions to have the biggest say in exploring, extracting, refining and selling of crude as well as the distribution of its royalties.
The draft gives regions, such the one currently under the control of Iraq Kurdish factions and their militias, the right to sign oil deals and keep a certain portion of oil proceeds to themselves. The council’s statement is the first indication of the troubles the draft law is going to cause if turned into law.
The government has passed the draft to the parliament after approving it, sparking a torrent of criticism from various political factions. The opponents of the draft say the draft in its current shape is bound to create further divisions and disparity among the country’s ethnic groups and sects. They want the central government and not Iraqi autonomous regions to have the biggest say in exploring, extracting, refining and selling of crude as well as the distribution of its royalties.
The draft gives regions, such the one currently under the control of Iraq Kurdish factions and their militias, the right to sign oil deals and keep a certain portion of oil proceeds to themselves. The council’s statement is the first indication of the troubles the draft law is going to cause if turned into law.
Labels: Arab Consultative Council in Kirkuk, Arabs, draft oil law, Kirkuk
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Peshmerga controlling Kirkuk
Security, Politics
(McClatchy Newspapers) Kirkuk is a tinderbox of sects vying for control of an area with billions of dollars worth of oil, but the Iraqi army isn't a neutral presence, and many of its soldiers make no secret that their loyalty is to the Kurdish nation. The oil-rich city, which many fear is teetering on the brink of civil war, is off-limits to Kurdish Peshmerga militia members.
As with Shiite militias in Baghdad, the line between militia members and Iraqi security troops in Kirkuk is so thin that it at times doesn't exist. And U.S. plans to build Iraq's security forces - a process that has cost more than $15 billion nationwide - seem to have strengthened militias instead of discouraging them. The issue of loyalty with Iraqi security forces is proving to be the Achilles' heel of American plans to stabilize the war-torn nation. Without neutral Iraqi soldiers and police, an American withdrawal would almost certainly lead to greater sectarian bloodshed than Iraq is currently experiencing.
In June 2004, the American Coalition Provisional Authority issued an order outlawing militias and calling for their members to integrate into Iraq's security forces. An exemption was made for the Peshmerga, provided that they remained in Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous state in northern Iraq, and not move to outside areas like Kirkuk. Armed groups across Iraq reacted to the 2004 measure by enlisting in the army and police and maintaining large contingents of stand-alone militia groups, making them significantly more powerful.
In June 2004, the American Coalition Provisional Authority issued an order outlawing militias and calling for their members to integrate into Iraq's security forces. An exemption was made for the Peshmerga, provided that they remained in Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous state in northern Iraq, and not move to outside areas like Kirkuk. Armed groups across Iraq reacted to the 2004 measure by enlisting in the army and police and maintaining large contingents of stand-alone militia groups, making them significantly more powerful.
Asked by e-mail whether there were concerns about the Peshmerga influence on Iraqi troops around Kirkuk, U.S. Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly answered: "No. Our relationship with the IA (Iraqi Army) division is well established since our arrival here six months ago." Requests for comment from four senior U.S. military public affairs officers in Baghdad were unsuccessful.
The dispute over who will ultimately control Kirkuk, which has oil fields with reserves of at least 8.7 billion barrels, is a contentious and potentially catastrophic one, with the city's Arab, Kurd and Turkmen communities all claiming rightful ownership.
"The Kurds who surround Kirkuk claim to be Iraqi army, but their extensive presence on the outskirts of Kirkuk is designed to affect the ethnic balance of the city," said Ali Mahdi, a senior Turkmen political leader in Kirkuk and a member of the provincial council. "They are protecting their sect and working for the benefit of the Kurds in the city and not the others. This is dangerous for the future of the city."
The situation has serious geo-political implications: Neighboring Turkey, a crucial U.S. ally, fears that the Kurds will eventually declare independence if they gain Kirkuk, a move that could lead the large Kurdish population in Turkey to agitate for secession. Former dictator Saddam Hussein displaced tens of thousands of Kurdish families from Kirkuk, replacing them with Arabs, mainly from the Shiite south.
Iraq's constitution provides for a referendum to decide the matter of who will control Kirkuk by the end of this year; meanwhile, tens of thousands of Kurds have moved into the city since 2003, urged by Kurdish political parties to set up homes there. And the Peshmerga have continued to have deep ties with the Iraqi security forces.
"If the heavy presence of Peshmerga in Kirkuk and its outskirts continues as it is now, it will lead to a civil war in Kirkuk," said Abdullah al Obeidi, a Sunni Arab tribal leader and a member of the Kirkuk provincial council. Senior Kurdish leaders have said in public that they'll pursue only peaceful means to wrest control of the city. That same leadership has intentionally stocked Iraqi security forces with Peshmerga, said Fadil Haider, a senior member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, a small but powerful political party, and a former member of the Iraqi national parliament.
The two main Kurdish parties - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) - have done so as an insurance policy, he said. "I can give you two scenarios: If Iraq is in an all-out civil war, then the PUK and KDP have put themselves in a position to protect Kurdistan by very quickly taking Kirkuk and making it a part of an independent Kurdistan," Haider said. "Or, if we exhaust the peaceful, political means of gaining Kirkuk for Kurdistan, we will take it by force."
Kurdish officials are confident that when Kirkuk becomes a part of the Kurdish regional government, its security will be maintained by Peshmerga, a process that presumably would be made easier by the fact that so many Iraqi police and army there are former members, said Suzanne Shahab Nouri, a member of the regional Kurdish parliament. "The Kurdish Peshmerga forces are the strongest (Iraqi) military force in Iraq," said Jafar Mustafa Ali, the minister state for Peshmerga affairs - essentially a defense minister - in Sulaimaniyah. "If they (Kurdish opponents in Kirkuk) don't respect the democratic process, we could take over Kirkuk and they could do nothing."
"The Kurds who surround Kirkuk claim to be Iraqi army, but their extensive presence on the outskirts of Kirkuk is designed to affect the ethnic balance of the city," said Ali Mahdi, a senior Turkmen political leader in Kirkuk and a member of the provincial council. "They are protecting their sect and working for the benefit of the Kurds in the city and not the others. This is dangerous for the future of the city."
The situation has serious geo-political implications: Neighboring Turkey, a crucial U.S. ally, fears that the Kurds will eventually declare independence if they gain Kirkuk, a move that could lead the large Kurdish population in Turkey to agitate for secession. Former dictator Saddam Hussein displaced tens of thousands of Kurdish families from Kirkuk, replacing them with Arabs, mainly from the Shiite south.
Iraq's constitution provides for a referendum to decide the matter of who will control Kirkuk by the end of this year; meanwhile, tens of thousands of Kurds have moved into the city since 2003, urged by Kurdish political parties to set up homes there. And the Peshmerga have continued to have deep ties with the Iraqi security forces.
"If the heavy presence of Peshmerga in Kirkuk and its outskirts continues as it is now, it will lead to a civil war in Kirkuk," said Abdullah al Obeidi, a Sunni Arab tribal leader and a member of the Kirkuk provincial council. Senior Kurdish leaders have said in public that they'll pursue only peaceful means to wrest control of the city. That same leadership has intentionally stocked Iraqi security forces with Peshmerga, said Fadil Haider, a senior member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, a small but powerful political party, and a former member of the Iraqi national parliament.
The two main Kurdish parties - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) - have done so as an insurance policy, he said. "I can give you two scenarios: If Iraq is in an all-out civil war, then the PUK and KDP have put themselves in a position to protect Kurdistan by very quickly taking Kirkuk and making it a part of an independent Kurdistan," Haider said. "Or, if we exhaust the peaceful, political means of gaining Kirkuk for Kurdistan, we will take it by force."
Kurdish officials are confident that when Kirkuk becomes a part of the Kurdish regional government, its security will be maintained by Peshmerga, a process that presumably would be made easier by the fact that so many Iraqi police and army there are former members, said Suzanne Shahab Nouri, a member of the regional Kurdish parliament. "The Kurdish Peshmerga forces are the strongest (Iraqi) military force in Iraq," said Jafar Mustafa Ali, the minister state for Peshmerga affairs - essentially a defense minister - in Sulaimaniyah. "If they (Kurdish opponents in Kirkuk) don't respect the democratic process, we could take over Kirkuk and they could do nothing."
Labels: Arabs, Iraqi Army, KDP, Kirkuk, Kurds, Peshmerga, PUK, Turkomen
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Possible war over Kirkuk
Security
(AP) While the world focuses on Baghdad's security, a series of bombings in Kirkuk may be the long-feared start of a second deadly war in Iraq -- this one between Kurds and Arabs, both with claims on a territory atop one of the world's largest oil reserves. If the escalating violence in Kirkuk erupts into all-out fighting between heavily armed Kurdish and Arab groups, it could spark a wider conflict involving Turkey or Iran. That risk puts the United States in a bind, caught between ally Turkey, which is on the side of Arabs and ethnic Turkomen here, and the Kurds, another strong U.S. ally.
The issue is coming to a head because of a provision in the Iraqi constitution that calls for a referendum by year's end on Kirkuk's future. Arabs and Turkomen, backed by Turkey, want to put the vote off -- worried about Kurdish dominance and more violence if the referendum is held and Kurds win. But Kurds are determined to press ahead. They deny it's because of the black gold in the ground.
In the past two weeks, the city 180 miles north of Baghdad has suffered a wave of bombings, including six car bombs on one day alone. One targeted a main Kurdish political organization. Another bomb this week seriously wounded a Kurdish teacher. Some Kurds claim that Sunni Arab groups with al-Qaida links are now operating here, but Turkomen and Arabs also have been hit by violence.
The dispute centers on whether this ancient city should become part of the semi-independent Kurdish zone in northeast Iraq, or remain as it is, part of broader Iraq, governed by the Arab-led coalition government in Baghdad. The referendum, whose date has not been agreed upon, would settle that by asking residents which they preferred.
Unlike in Baghdad, in Kirkuk there are sharp lines between the warring sides, a legacy of a battle for dominance here that predates the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Chillingly, each side has increased its warnings that it is armed and ready to fight. Kurds, in particular, have well-armed, highly trained peshmerga militias with years of experience fighting in the past conflicts of northern Iraq. But Arabs too say they are ready to fight. "We tell the Kurdish political parties to have a clear understanding, that if they try to make Kirkuk a part of Iraqi Kurdistan, then war is coming here," warned Sheik Abdul Rahman Munshid, a Sunni Arab leader. Munshid's neighborhood is known for its links to Saddam's loyalists and Sunni insurgents, some with al-Qaida links, according to residents.
A powerful ally of the Arabs are the Turkomen, a minority in Iraq concentrated in the north. They accuse Kurds of intimidation bombings and kidnappings against them. They say that by resettling their people, the Kurds are changing the city's ethnic balance and taking away Arabs' and Turkomen's voting rights. "If Kirkuk goes to Kurdistan, we will fight. I will fight," warned Ali Mehdi Sadiq, a representative of the Turkomen. Such a war, he warns, "will bring in other countries in the region, Turkey and Iran. They care about what happens here."
American experts agree that the referendum carries high risks. The U.S. Iraq Study Group, the panel led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, said in its report in December that "given the very dangerous situation in Kirkuk ... a referendum on the future of Kirkuk would be explosive and should be delayed." So far, President Bush's administration has not supported canceling or delaying the vote. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has warned Turkey against interference.
So far, Turkey has held its fire, despite what is says are frequent provocations. Turkey has been fighting a Kurdish independence movement within its borders and has faced harassing attacks by Kurdish guerrillas, aided by allies who cross the border from Iraq. Turkey and Iran also fear an economic boom in Iraq's Kurdish region. Should Iraqi Kurds gain control over the Kirkuk oil fields, it could embolden and finance the Kurds inside their own countries to push harder for autonomy. Kirkuk has six oil fields containing one of Iraq's largest oil reserves of about 8 billion barrels.
Both Iran and Turkey have sent additional troops to their borders this year, and fights between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian security forces also are up. There are no accurate figures of the numbers of Kurds to return to Kirkuk in the last three years, but estimates range as high as 300,000. Most believe Kurds are now a majority here. The last ethnic-breakdown census in Iraq was conducted in 1957, well before Saddam began his program to move Arabs to Kirkuk. That count showed 178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkomen, 43,000 Arabs and 10,000 Assyrian-Chaldean Christians living in the city.
The issue is coming to a head because of a provision in the Iraqi constitution that calls for a referendum by year's end on Kirkuk's future. Arabs and Turkomen, backed by Turkey, want to put the vote off -- worried about Kurdish dominance and more violence if the referendum is held and Kurds win. But Kurds are determined to press ahead. They deny it's because of the black gold in the ground.
In the past two weeks, the city 180 miles north of Baghdad has suffered a wave of bombings, including six car bombs on one day alone. One targeted a main Kurdish political organization. Another bomb this week seriously wounded a Kurdish teacher. Some Kurds claim that Sunni Arab groups with al-Qaida links are now operating here, but Turkomen and Arabs also have been hit by violence.
The dispute centers on whether this ancient city should become part of the semi-independent Kurdish zone in northeast Iraq, or remain as it is, part of broader Iraq, governed by the Arab-led coalition government in Baghdad. The referendum, whose date has not been agreed upon, would settle that by asking residents which they preferred.
Unlike in Baghdad, in Kirkuk there are sharp lines between the warring sides, a legacy of a battle for dominance here that predates the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Chillingly, each side has increased its warnings that it is armed and ready to fight. Kurds, in particular, have well-armed, highly trained peshmerga militias with years of experience fighting in the past conflicts of northern Iraq. But Arabs too say they are ready to fight. "We tell the Kurdish political parties to have a clear understanding, that if they try to make Kirkuk a part of Iraqi Kurdistan, then war is coming here," warned Sheik Abdul Rahman Munshid, a Sunni Arab leader. Munshid's neighborhood is known for its links to Saddam's loyalists and Sunni insurgents, some with al-Qaida links, according to residents.
A powerful ally of the Arabs are the Turkomen, a minority in Iraq concentrated in the north. They accuse Kurds of intimidation bombings and kidnappings against them. They say that by resettling their people, the Kurds are changing the city's ethnic balance and taking away Arabs' and Turkomen's voting rights. "If Kirkuk goes to Kurdistan, we will fight. I will fight," warned Ali Mehdi Sadiq, a representative of the Turkomen. Such a war, he warns, "will bring in other countries in the region, Turkey and Iran. They care about what happens here."
American experts agree that the referendum carries high risks. The U.S. Iraq Study Group, the panel led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, said in its report in December that "given the very dangerous situation in Kirkuk ... a referendum on the future of Kirkuk would be explosive and should be delayed." So far, President Bush's administration has not supported canceling or delaying the vote. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has warned Turkey against interference.
So far, Turkey has held its fire, despite what is says are frequent provocations. Turkey has been fighting a Kurdish independence movement within its borders and has faced harassing attacks by Kurdish guerrillas, aided by allies who cross the border from Iraq. Turkey and Iran also fear an economic boom in Iraq's Kurdish region. Should Iraqi Kurds gain control over the Kirkuk oil fields, it could embolden and finance the Kurds inside their own countries to push harder for autonomy. Kirkuk has six oil fields containing one of Iraq's largest oil reserves of about 8 billion barrels.
Both Iran and Turkey have sent additional troops to their borders this year, and fights between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian security forces also are up. There are no accurate figures of the numbers of Kurds to return to Kirkuk in the last three years, but estimates range as high as 300,000. Most believe Kurds are now a majority here. The last ethnic-breakdown census in Iraq was conducted in 1957, well before Saddam began his program to move Arabs to Kirkuk. That count showed 178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkomen, 43,000 Arabs and 10,000 Assyrian-Chaldean Christians living in the city.
Labels: Arabs, Iran, Kirkuk, Kurdistan, Kurds, Turkey, Turkomen
