A senior Iraqi Kurd pressed his people's claim to the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, drawing a swift and frosty reaction from Turkey, which fears the establishment of a separate Kurdish state. On the eve of a trip to Ankara, Berham Salih, a leading member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), also told Turkey's NTV television he saw his region of "Kurdistan" having a high degree of autonomy in a future federal Iraq.
"In my view, Kirkuk is a part of Kurdistan, both from the demographic point of view and also geographically and historically," Salih told NTV. "But as someone bound by democratic values and by the democracy we foresee for Iraq I say 'Let the people of Kirkuk decide [in a referendum]."'
Under the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, ethnic Kurds and Turkmen were pushed out of Kirkuk and replaced with Arabs in an attempt to change the demographic character of the region, which sits on billions of barrels of oil. The Turkmen - ethnically close to Turkey - and the Arabs are bitterly opposed to a plan by Kurds on Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council to grant significant autonomy to a Kurdish area in northern Iraq, incorporating three provinces they wrested from Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War. Up to six people were killed recently in ethnic clashes in Kirkuk, prompting US forces to enforce a night curfew there. NATO member Turkey, along with Iraq's other neighbors Iran and Syria, has watched the latest developments with concern.
Ankara fears Iraqi Kurds will build an independent state that could revive separatist passions among its own large Kurdish population. Responding to Salih's comments, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Dirioz told a news briefing: "It is clear what Kirkuk is. The biggest proof of this is the reaction shown by all the Iraqi groups to the (Kurdish) attempts to seize it. In an apparent swipe at both the Kurdish peshmerga fighters and US forces, he added: "We see that those responsible for providing security in the city are failing to do their job." But Salih urged Turkey to accept that most Iraqis favor a federal structure for their country, whose other main division is between majority Shiite and minority Sunni Muslims. Already, tensions are rising among the Kurdish, Arab and Turkomen ethnic groups vying for control of Kirkuk. Despite their shared Muslim faith, the three communities have been distrusting and killing each other for centuries. The hatred boiled over in May when 11 people were killed, and again in August when another 11 people were killed. Fresh clashes left two more dead on New Year's Eve.
"This is not the Arabs' homeland. Their home is in the south," said Ribawar Ibrahim, a 25-year-old Kurd who fought against Saddam Hussein's rule. Ibrahim is a peshmerga, or "one who faces death." He marched in with American forces and Kurdish comrades during the invasion of Iraq last year. To ease tensions, US troops are confiscating weapons and maintaining a nighttime curfew.
Two Pakistanis and one Indian were killed near Saddam Hussein's hometown in Iraq when unknown assailants fired on vehicles they were driving. The US military confirmed that two foreign nationals had been killed in the attack. A spokeswoman in Tikrit said one US soldier, a driver of unknown nationality and one US civilian were injured. "It is believed that the motor vehicles pulled up alongside the convoy, fired into the cabs of the trucks and immediately broke contact," Major Josslyn Aberle told reporters. Police said the incident took place 9 miles south of Tikrit. A car bomb exploded outside a police station Wednesday killing two Iraqis, as the US military confirmed the capture of a key aide of Saddam Hussein.
The bomb, the second in five days to strike the restive town of Baquba, north of Baghdad, also injured some 30 people, but there was confusion over the fate of the bomber, with the US military disputing police claims he also died. Meanwhile, US troops in a firefight near the town of Samarra killed eight Iraqis said to have attacked them in a "drive-by" shooting. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US-led coalition in Iraq, announced the capture of Khamis Sarhan al-Mohammad, a leading figure in Saddam's tyrannical Baath party. US Special Forces and troops from the 82nd Airborne Division captured Mohammad, who commands a bounty of one million dollars, near the western town of Ramadi in the so-called "Sunni-triangle" of anti-coalition resistance on January 11th. Kimmitt described Mohammad as "an enabler for many of the attacks against Iraqis and coalition forces," and hailed the capture as "another significant step in reducing anti-coalition resistance". The arrest of Mohammad, the Baath chairman in the southern city of Karbala, leaves 13 still at large on the US military's "deck of cards" listing the most wanted Iraqis.
Saddam, who was captured while hiding in a hole at a farm near his northern hometown of Tikrit on December 13th, was the ace of spades in the pack. Kimmitt did not reveal if the reward would be paid out on Mohammad's capture, refusing to give further details on the arrest operation. Earlier Wednesday, US military police backed by tanks and fighting vehicles raided Samarra in a pre-dawn operation that netted four nephews of Ibrahim al-Duri, the most wanted of Saddam's lieutenants. "We think that the two main targets (of the raid) know the whereabouts of al-Duri and are enablers for his movements," said Lieutenant Colonel David Poirier, commander of the battalion that led the raid, claiming that the US is now one step closer to finding him. Duri has a 10-million-dollar bounty on his head for allegedly masterminding anti-coalition attacks. Coalition forces have been faced with relentless violence in Iraq, with insurgents seemingly undeterred by Saddam's capture.
The latest blast in Baquba, came just days after a strike on a mosque in the town left five dead. It occurred at about 8:30 am, when a green Toyota forced its way into a guarded street where the police unit and municipal government offices are located and exploded, policeman Haidar Ismail said. "I saw the remains of the car driver all over the place and the building was severely damaged." In Samarra, soldiers from an infantry battalion killed eight attackers and wounded one, after they were attacked, said the spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit.
Iraq's interim Governing Council is exploring a compromise with the country's top Shiite spiritual leader after he hardened demands for elections before a return to self-rule. "We are discussing a proposal for elections in some provinces," said Mohsen Abul Hamid, a Sunni member of the council. It could become a compromise solution.
The readiness of the council to seek a way out is due to the threatening tone adopted by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential leader of the Shiite majority. "The proposed mechanism involves organizing elections wherever possible," Abul Hamid said. The ayatollah made it clear to council members he met that the timetable set out in a November 15th agreement to select an Iraqi government without elections before restoring sovereignty by July 1st was not "sacred". He also warned the council against signing any accord to keep foreign troops in Iraq, insisting this was for democratically elected representatives to decide.
Faced with the ayatollah's hardening line, some US spokesmen said that various methods of selecting a transitional assembly, including direct elections in certain areas, were being discussed with Iraqi officials. However, US officials in Baghdad and Washington ruled out nationwide elections, citing the security situation and lack of legal infrastructure. Instead, under the November agreement, the assembly will be chosen through a regional caucus system that should be set up by mid-March.
The State Department said Washington was willing to be flexible on how the caucuses are set up. "There is discussion on how exactly that assembly would be selected," deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. "We are engaged with different parties in Iraq in those discussions," he said. "There can be discussions with different parties in Iraq about the modalities or the technicalities ... of how caucuses are conducted," he told reporters. But, Ereli stressed that nothing would be changed in the timetable already agreed between the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and the Council. One US official said Washington is prepared to allow Iraqis to vote for the assembly in secure areas where the local administration is able to handle the responsibility, perhaps in coordination with the United Nations. "This is one idea that's on the table," the official said. It cannot be done everywhere, "but elections could be workable in some parts." Sistani, who fears attempts to marginalize his community, has repeatedly rejected pleas to endorse the caucus system, calling for the entire assembly to be elected directly.
Ereli said Washington hoped the UN would help to find a compromise. The top US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said that direct elections were technically not possible. He noted that today, about two months before the assembly would need to be selected, there is no Iraqi electoral commission, no election law, and no political party legislation or voter registration. Besides, there are no electoral constituencies.
The head of Lukoil said Friday he would visit Baghdad next month to revive negotiations for a $3.8 billion deal to develop the West Qurna oilfield in southern Iraq. "Most probably, I will visit Iraq in February, and official talks will get under way then," Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov told Reuters. "We have projects in Iraq, and the prospects are most optimistic."
Lukoil's contract on West Qurna was struck with former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 1997. But Saddam cancelled the deal after Lukoil refused to ignore UN sanctions. A leading Iraqi politician said last month that Russian and French firms would be allowed to compete for oil sector development contracts. Earlier in December, Russia and France signaled their willingness to negotiate reducing billions of dollars of Iraqi debt.
