linked - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basln Ozeti
only. Ethnic c1eansing intensified
after the 1991
Kuwait war when the Republican
Guards crushed
a short-lived uprising. ln
1996, the regime passed
an "Identity law" to force
Kurds and other non-Arabs
to register as Arab. The
government expelled from
the reglOn anyone who refused.
ln 1997, the Iraqi
government demolished
Kirkuk's historic citadel,
with its mosques and ancient
church. Human Rights
Watch estimated that between
1991 and 2003, the
Iraqi government expelled
between 120,000 and
200,000 non-Arabs from
Kirkuk and its environs.
ln September 1999, the
V.S. State Department reported
that the Iraqi government
had displaced approx-
Imately 900,000 citizens
throughout Iraq. The report
contmued to describe how
"Local officiais in the south
have ordered the arrest of
any officiaI or citizen who
provides employment, food
or shelter to newly arriving
Kurds."
A New Beginning for
Kirkuk?
ln April 2003, coalition
forces and the Iraqi Kurdlsh
peshmerga liberated Kirkuk
from Baathist control. Many
victims of Saddam's ethnic
c1eansing campaign sought
to return to the region, only
to be prevented by V.S.
authorities. Many remain
in tent-city limbo. Article
58 of the March 8, 2004
Transitional Administrative
Law sought to settle disputes
in Kirkuk by means
of an Iraql Property Claims
Commission and "other relevant
bodies." ln practice,
however, successive Iraqi
governments have done
little, creating suspicion
among many lraqi Kurds as
to the central government's
intentions. The uncertainty
over Kirkuk's status has
impeded local development
and sidelined the issue of
refugee resettlement.
Article 140 of the new Iraql
constitution has adopted
Article 58 of the Transitional
Administrative Law,
which necessitates the normalization
ofthe situation in
Kirkuk, by wltich the legislature
meant the assistance
of the return of internally
displaced people and their
reclamation of seized property.
Arabs mstalled m the
region should be helped to
return to southern and central
Iraq, should they so desire.
The four sub-dlstricts
of Kifri, Chemchemal, Kalar,
and Tuz-Khurmatu annexed
to neighboring governorates
by the regime in
1976 should be returned to
the governorate of Kirkuk.
Article 140 also states that
a local census must be organized
and a referendum
held to decide the future of
the province. The set deadline
for the implementation
of thls article IS December
2007. However, if Iraqi
PrIme Mmister Nuri al-Maliki
does not implement the
article wlthin the allocated
tlme, ethnic and sectarian
unrest could explode in
Kirkuk, the effects rippling
out throughout Iraq.
A report by the International
Crisis Group proposes
that the Iraqi government
invite the U.N. Secunty
Council "to appoint an envoy
to start negotiations to
deslgnate the Kirkuk governorate
as a stand-alone,
federal region for an interim
period," and recommended
postponing the
constI tuti onaily-mandated
referendum because of the
threat that It could further
exacerbate an already uncertain
security situation.
There is no need for another
envoy. With many
Arab League nations and
Turkey opposed to the expansion
of Kurdish selfmIe,
an V.N. envoy would
not have the confidence
of most of Kirkuk's residents.
Nor should outside
organizations, however
well-meanmg, delay implementation
of Article 140. A
wide swath of Iraqi society
accepted the constitution
after extensive consultation.
And, on August 9, the Iraqi
government nominated a
high committee chaired by
the Minister of Justice to
Implement Article 140 of
the Iraqi constitution without
delay.
Until the December 2007
referendum, which the
U.N. has expertise to organize,
it will be impossible
to know whether local
residents wish Kirkuk to be
absorbed into the Kurdistan
Regional Government.
Many Kurds do, but others
are afraid of being pushed
aside by established patronage
networks and political
machines imposed from
outside the city.
Rather than destabilize
the reglOn, formaI resolutlOn
of the dispute over
Kirkuk's status should calm
the city. Various ethnie
and sectarian communities
co-existed peacefully in
Kirkuk until Abdul-Karim
Qasim's 1958 coup d'état.
The central government in
Baghdad rather than local
politics fueled most subsequent
conflicts. Any census
is sure to confirm the
majority status of Kurds
inside Kirkuk. They will
demand the right to have
thelr voice heard through
the ballot box. But Kurdish
empowerment through the
democratic process need
not mean disenfranchisement
for the local Arabs
and Turcoman communities.
There is no reason why
the various communities
within Kirkuk cannot coexist
peacefully again.
Dr. Nourl Talabany,professor
of Law, author of several
books and articles about
Iraql Kurdish hIS/Ory.He is
currently an independent
member of parliamen/ in
the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
Kirkuk rejects Baker-Hamilton Report
Hundreds of people in Kirkuk
organized a demonstration
against the Iraqi Study
Group's report on Dec 12,
2006. The demonstrators were
from different ethnicities such
as Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens
and several political factions,
gathered in front of the US
Consulate and chanted various
slogans like, "No ... No...
Baker- Hamilton."
Sorne recommendations of the
report, released on Dec. 6, directly
put the achievements of the Iraqi
Kurds in danger such as postponing
the referendum in Kirkuk that
is expected to be held no later
than 2007. It is against article 140
of Iraqi constitution that asks for
holding the referendum and normalizing
the situation in that city.
The report also recommends for
empowering the central government
and reinforcing the former
Iraqi Ba'th members in their jobs.
ThiS is a clear intervention in the
Iraqi constitution.
The people of Kurdistan have
reJected the report in various occasions;
making petitions and
demonstrations are one of them
and the Kirkuk demonstration IS
the latest one.
Rizgar HaJi KIRKUK
Hama, head
of Patriotic
UnIOn of
Kurdistan 's
Democratic
Organizations
in Kirkuk,
said that they
will go against
anything that
contradicts
the Iraqi constitution.
The demonstrators submitted a
letter in Kurdish and English to
the Consulate.
Adnan Kirkuki, member of the
Kurdistan Democratie Party's
Kirkuk branch, said Kurds were
not consulted during the entire
nine months of preparing the report.
"We won't let any outside will
to be imposed on us," he said.
He also said that they will continue
to put pressure on the U.S.
through peaceful means to reject
the items that are not in favor of
the Kurds.
"This is an' apparent violation
of the Iraqi constitution," Kirkukl
sald.
Sorne Arabs participated in the
demonstration. Hassan Fathullah,
46, an Arab, said, "We rejeci it by
ail means, because it will put the
future of the city in danger."
The report descnbes Kirkuk as
a barrel of explosive and tlme
bomb and It has angered the people
of the city.
Tahssin Kahyya, a Shia Turkmen
m the committee to Implement
article 140, condemned the
report for using such a word to describe
Kirkuk, "The report is way
too far from the reality, because
we, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and
Assyrian have lived together for
a very long time."
"This report is just a (number)
of recommendations, because the
constitution is above everything,"
he said.
Babakir Sidiq, head of Kikuk's
committee to implement article
140, said that people will reject
the report, "because 68 percent
of the Iraqi people have voted in
favor of the constitution."
"We are working to implement
article 140 and the report wants
to create obstacle. The report is
talking about centralization, "he
said, "We have been workmg for
de-centralization in the last three
years, now it wants to bring back
dictatorship."
The demonstration ended
peacefully and police escorted
the crowd during the entire time
of the protest.
The demonstrators spent more
than an hour in front of the US
consulate three representatives,
two Kurds and a Turkman, met
with the consulate officiaIs.
After the meeting the representatives
told the crowd that the US
consulate has assured them the
vOlces of the demonstrators will
be taken into consideration and
that the Baker-Hamilton report
doesn't represent the officiaI V.S.
policy.
e Kurdish Globe
December 19, 2006
53