|
The survival of Iraq depends on bridging
the Kurd-Arab divide
30.6.2009
By the Monitor's Editorial Board
|
|
|
|
Iraq's next milestone: the Kurdish question
June
30, 2009
On June 30, Iraq will mark the
withdrawal of US combat troops from its cities to
surrounding areas. It counts as a major milestone on
the road to real Iraqi sovereignty, as well as a
point from which to consider the progress made in
securing Iraq's future.
In May 2007, as the US troop "surge" was getting
under way, 126 US troops were killed in Iraq; last
month, it was 25. The comparison for Iraqi troops?
197 versus 39. And for Iraqi civilian deaths? 2,600
versus 340.
The US will still have training forces in cities,
but the withdrawal of American combat forces from
urban centers sends "a message to the world that we
are now able to safeguard our security and
administer our internal affairs," Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Saturday. He has
declared Tuesday a national holiday of feasts and
festivals.
Once that day is over, however, Iraq needs to
prepare for an arduous journey with less US help. Al
Qaeda still lurks. But perhaps more important,www.ekurd.net
so
does the unanswered "Kurdish question," which
centers on the longstanding Kurdish-Arab conflict.
Tension between Mr. Maliki an Arab and the
semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
in the north has escalated significantly in the last
year. It touches issues of fundamental importance
national unity, oil wealth, and the balance of power
between the central government and the regions. Left
unaddressed or worse, provoked the Kurd-Arab
divide could split the Iraqi state.
A wide swath of disputed territory lies at the heart
of the problem. Last August, only direct negotiation
between Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani and
Maliki was able to head off a military showdown
between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the
Kurdish-administered town of Khanaqin.
Nothing is more central to the territorial tug of
war than the province of Kirkuk**, which lies next
to an oil field that contains 20 percent of the
country's proven oil reserves. The Kurds consider
Kirkuk historically theirs,www.ekurd.net
but
it is now populated by a mix of Kurds, Turkmens,
Christians, and Arabs the latter group was sent by
Saddam Hussein to flood the area. The 2005 Iraqi
Constitution calls for Kirkuk's status to be set by
referendum, but the vote keeps being delayed.
Kirkuk relates directly to two other highly divisive
issues in Iraq central-government control and oil
and gas revenues. The Constitution laid down broad
parameters for both, with regions enjoying
considerable power. Their law trumps federal law in
areas that lie outside the exclusive control of the
federal government as does the management of oil
and gas.
But Maliki and his supporters want to change the
Constitution to give more power to Baghdad. National
elections are due in January, and he wants to show
he has the strength to pull the country together and
the control to make a difference. For instance,
without waiting for a long-disputed hydrocarbon law
to pass parliament, his oil ministry has decided to
auction petroleum and gas fields including ones
near Kirkuk to foreign companies.
It was encouraging to hear US Maj. Gen. Robert
Caslen tell the Monitor last week that he would
place additional forces in areas disputed by the
Kurds and Arabs. He says the US can encourage
dialogue between Kurdish military leaders and Iraqi
government forces, and indeed, the US should keep
its eye on this divide.
But ultimately, the Kurdish question is one the
Iraqis themselves will have to answer. And it must
be done through the political process. The example
of what happens when one group's will is imposed on
another was just made clear in next-door Iran as
if years of sectarian violence at home needed any
elaboration.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
csmonitor com
**
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city and it
lies just south border of the Kurdistan autonomous
region, the population is a mix of majority Kurds
and minority of Arabs,www.ekurd.net
Christians and Turkmen, lies 250 km northeast of
Baghdad. Kurds have a strong cultural and emotional
attachment to Kirkuk,www.ekurd.net
which they call "the Kurdish
Jerusalem." Kurds see it as the rightful and
perfect capital of an autonomous Kurdistan state.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to
the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk city
and other disputed areas through having back its
Kurdish inhabitants and repatriating the Arabs
relocated in the city during the former regimes
time to their original provinces in central and
southern Iraq.
The article also calls for conducting a census to be
followed by a referendum to let the inhabitants
decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed
to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having
it as an independent province.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had forced over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the
city and the region's oil industry.
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.
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
ฎ