UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

Ethnic violence has been responsible for the killing and displacement of thousands of
Iraqis. 456 For many, the attacks were seen as a warning to stop the implementation of
Article 140 of the Constitution, 457 as well as an attempt to further increase ethnic tensions
in the city. 458
While part of the violence in Kirkuk, Mosul, Tel Afar and other mixed areas is of
generalized nature, there are also targeted attacks, including kidnappings and
assassinations, against members and representatives of the various ethnic communities. 459
Given that the various ethnic groups in Kirkuk and other mixed areas are vying for political
power, such attacks are often of a political nature. Sunni extremists staging a war against
Shi’ites and other “non-believers” are also responsible for attacks against members of
religious groups. 460
456 Between December 2005 and July 2006, the number of reported violent incidents in Kirkuk increased by
76 percent, ending the city’s previous status as a relatively safe area; see: Cagaptay and Fink, see above
footnote 44. According to Lt. Col. Khalif Mashhadanny, a senior member of the Kirkuk local police, most of
the 1,000 killings in the city of Kirkuk over the past four months were due to tension between Kurds and
Turkmen; see: IRIN, Iraq: Ethnic tensions mount in Kirkuk, 16 November 2006, http://www.irinnews.org/
Report.aspx?ReportId=61946.
457 See “De-Arabization”.
458 Senanayake, Iraq: Ethnic Tensions Increasing In Oil-Rich City, see above footnote 45; The Guardian, As
violence grows, oil-rich Kirkuk could hold key to Iraq’s future, 27 October 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Iraq/Story/0,,1932789,00.html.
459 Mariam Karouny, Kirkuk ethnic rage will test Bush hopes for Iraqis, Reuters/Assyrian International News
Agency, 30 June 2005, http://web.krg.org/articles/article_print.asp?ArticleNr=3980. See also: Reuters/
Assyrian International News Agency, Arab Leader Shot Dead in Iraq City of Kirkuk, 28 May 2005,
http://www.aina.org/news/20050528115623.htm.
460 See also “ Religious Groups”. For example, on 3 February 2007, a string of bombings in Kirkuk killed
ten people and wounded more than 50. Two of the bombs targeted the headquarters of the KDP and the PUK;
see Sumedha Senanayake, Iraq: Committee Decision Increases Tensions In Kirkuk, RFE/RL, 8 February
2007, http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/02/3a63f415-eb59-4a80-b97e-64c245661555.html; BBC
News, Baghdad market bomb “kills 130”, 3 February 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/
6327057.stm; The Chairman of the ITF, Mr. Sadettin Ergec (Saad Al-Din Arkaj) survived several attacks on
his life, most recently on 31 January 2007 near Kirkuk; Reuters Alertnet, Factbox – Security developments in
Iraq, Jan 31, 31 January 2007, http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL31378914; Cihan News
Agency, Turkmen Leader Survives Second Assassination Attempt, 16 July 2006, http://www.zaman.com/
?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20060716&hn=34822. On 28 November 2006, a man wearing an explosive vest blew
himself up next to the convoy of the Kurdish Governor of Kirkuk Governorate, Mr. Abdul-Rahman Mustafa,
killing a passer-by and wounding 12 people. It was reportedly the third assassination attempt on his life;
RFE/RL, Iraqi Governor Escapes Assassination Attempt, 28 November 2006, http://www.rferl.org/
featuresarticle/2006/11/A6C23C77-C52A-4F37-97E4-0E9A3421B5B8.html; UNAMI HRO reported the
blowing up of a Sunni mosque on 16 November 2006. It further received video evidence showing the abuse
and killing of an Arab man, who was in the custody of local security officers, in the streets of Kirkuk. Also,
on 19 November 2006, Kurdish singer Mr. Mesa’ud Goran was killed in Mosul presumably because he was
believed to support the city’s assimilation into the Region of Kurdistan; UNAMI HRO, December 2006
Human Rights Report, p. 13-14, see above footnote 10. On 17 October 2006, Mr. Fattah Rashid Harki,
a senior PUK member, was shot dead in Mosul and in late October 2006, women rights activist Mrs. Faliha
Ahmed was killed in Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk. Though the motive remains unclear, her death may be
linked to her speaking out against the discrimination against Arabs in Kirkuk and the assimilation of Kirkuk
into the Kurdistan Region; see UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 5-6 and 12, see above
footnote 66. On 10 July 2006, five persons were killed and 12 wounded in a bombing against a PUK office in
Kirkuk. Further attacks against PUK offices in Mosul and other cities took place on 11 August 2006, after
a Shi’ite cleric was criticized in an official Kurdish newspaper for fuelling tensions among Iraq’s Shi’ite
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