Kurdish Leader Rules Out Kirkuk Compromise
By Gareth Smyth in Arbil
Jan, 27 2005
FT

Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdish administration in Arbil, has ruled out compromise over the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, reinforcing the growing assertiveness of the Kurds in the run-up to Sunday's election.

His comments come amid a warning by Turkey on Wednesday that a move by Kurds to take control of the city could spark a civil war in Iraq.

Local elections in Kirkuk, which is shared by Kurds, Arabs, and Turkoman ethnic groups, will be held alongside national parliamentary elections, and will play a big role in deciding which of these groups will ultimately control the area. Kurds who had been displaced by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein have moved back to Kirkuk en masse following the end of the war, restoring their demographic strength in the town.

The Iraqi Electoral Commission recently agreed - under pressure from Kurdish parties - that these displaced Kurds would be allowed to vote in the provincial elections, a decision that many officials expect to tilt the balance of the provincial council decisively towards the Kurds.

In an interview with the FT, Mr Barzani said: "Kirkuk is part of Kurdistan geographically and historically."

He said Kirkuk province should be "normalised", with Arabs who had been brought in under the Ba'athist regime's "Arabisation" programme returned to their original provinces.

Many see control of Kirkuk's considerable oil reserves as a central strategic issue which has driven sporadic ethnic confrontation in the town since the end of the war.

Mr Barzani said the US and the interim government of Iyad Allawi, Iraqi prime minister, had been mistaken in thinking "time might solve the problem".

"We have realised that neither Baghdad nor Washington realised the depth of the sensitivity and feelings of the Kurds regarding Kirkuk," he said. "This is something that Kurds are not going to make any concessions over."

He also stressed the need for Iraq to resume "de-Ba'athification" - the expulsion of former Ba'ath party officials from government - and said the Kurds expected one of the leading positions in a new government.

In calling for de-Ba'athification Mr Barzani criticised a slowing down or abandonment of the policy under the government of Mr Allawi.

But Mr Barzani praised Mr Allawi as "a friend of the Kurds" and gave no clear indication who the Kurds might support as prime minister.

Kurdish leaders expect to win at least 75 seats in the new 275-strong assembly.

He reiterated Kurdish support for a "democratic, federal" Iraq and for "a secular system that would separate politics and religion", but he refused to rule out a prime minister from a religious party.

In an indication of what the Kurds will seek in post-election negotiations, Mr Barzani said the parliamentary speaker would be a "very important portfolio in the current period of time".