UN WARNS OF LOOMING CRISIS IN KIRKUK
The Guardian
1/16/2007
Human rights situation deteriorating in oil-rich Iraqi city ,
report says.
The deteriorating human rights situation in the oil-rich city of
Kirkuk in northern Iraq could be a prelude to a looming crisis in
the Kurdish region, the UN warned today.
In its bi-monthly human rights report on Iraq, the UN voiced concerns
at reports of mistreatment of ethnic Turkmen and Arabs by the Kurdish
majority.
"They face increasing threats, intimidations and detentions, often
in KRG (Kurdish regional government) facilities run by Kurdish
intelligence and security forces," the report said. "Such violations
may well be the prelude of a looming crisis in Kirkuk in the coming
months."
While media attention has focused on Baghdad, which accounts for
most of Iraq’s bloodletting, Kirkuk could be lurching towards its
own mini-crisis.
Kirkuk, an ancient city once part of the Ottoman empire, has a large
minority of ethnic Turks as well as Christians, Shias and Sunnis,
Armenians and Assyrians. The city lies just south of the autonomous
Kurdish region stretching across Iraq’s north-east.
Under Iraq’s new constitution, a local referendum is to be held this
year to determine whether Kirkuk should join the Kurdistan regional
confederacy (the united administration of Irbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya
provinces). Because of its oil wealth, the Kurds covet the city and
want it to become their regional capital.
It is a prospect that horrifies Turkey, which fears that a strong
Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq with Kirkuk’s oil wealth would
galvanise separatist Kurdish guerrillas in Turkey who have been
fighting since 1984 for autonomy.
Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, today warned Iraqi
Kurdish groups against trying to seize control of Kirkuk. He said
Turkey would not stand by amid growing ethnic tensions, prompting
accusations of interference by Iraqi Kurds.
The Kurdish coalition bloc in the Iraqi parliament today read a
statement during a session accusing Turkey of interfering in Iraqi
affairs. "As we condemn this interference in Iraqi affairs by the
Turkish government, we call upon the parliament to issue a statement
condemning them as well," the coalition bloc said.
But Mr Erdogan this week reminded the Kurds that Turkey sheltered
more than 500,000 Iraqi Kurdish refugees who escaped Iraq’s ruthless
campaign following a failed Kurdish insurgency in early 1991.
"Turkey did not remain indifferent to the plight of Kurdish peshmergas
who were escaping oppression and death," he said. "Today, it will
not remain indifferent to the Turkmens, Arabs … in Kirkuk."
Military intervention by Turkey, a Nato ally of the US in northern
Iraq, is unlikely, but Ankara could apply economic pressure as
potential oil exports from Kirkuk have to go overland through Turkey.
Today’s UN report said Kirkuk is heavily controlled by security forces
and Kurdish militias – or peshmergas – who exercise to a large degree
effective control of the city. Most senior official positions are
occupied by Kurds or their allies from other ethnic groups.
Under Saddam Hussein, Baghdad imposed an "Arabisation" policy on
Kirkuk, a massive social engineering project that drove many Kurds from
their homes to be replaced by Arabs, mostly Shias from the south. Since
the US invasion of 2003, many Kurds have returned and Turkmen and
Arabs in the city now complain of reverse "ethnic cleansing".
"Even though violence is not on the same level as in Baghdad," the UN
said, "ongoing human rights violations and the surge of violent acts
which have significantly increased since 2003 are widely believed to
be the doing of perpetrators and instigators from inside and outside
Iraq and Kirkuk. Lately and due to the continuing insecurity, ethnic
groups have moved closer to their own communities for protection."
With tension rising in Kirkuk, the referendum is shaping up to be a
key moment for the Kurdish region. The Iraq Study Group, chaired by
former secretary of state James Baker, warned last month in its report
of the "great risk" of the referendum sparking further violence in
Kirkuk and recommended postponing it for a year.
The Kurds would hardly welcome any such delay and might well annex
the city precipitating a crisis with Turkey.