Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (170057)	5/28/2003 4:03:28 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1583396

The NY Times Kurds Mobilize to Elect One of Their Own in City of Kirkuk By SABRINA TAVERNISE KIRKUK, Iraq, May 28 — A Kurd was elected today to head the local interim government, a significant political victory for the Kurds that tipped the ethnic balance in this oil-rich northern city that was dominated for years by Arabs from the Baathist-led regime. The vote came just two days after Kurds swept City Council elections, taking the largest single block of votes on the 30-seat council. American forces here organized the elections, which officials say are important steps toward establishing democracy in Iraq. Other elections have taken place in the northern city of Mosul and three cities in Iraq's south. Elsewhere in the north, the American administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, paid a brief, low-profile visit to the cities of Erbil and Suleimaniya. The operations officer at the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs, Maj. Steven Johnson, said the two-hour visit to Erbil was "decided at the last minute" and intended to "link up with the regional coordinator." Earlier this month, Mr. Bremer called off a visit, in a move that officials confided at the time was linked to uncertainty on the Kurdish situation. The elections in Kirkuk are significant for two reasons. First, the city is the center of Iraq's vast northern oil resources, with the fields here producing about 40 percent of Iraq's crude. The oil is the property of Baghdad, but the local governor will wield influence over it. Second, Kirkuk has been the center of ethnic disputes between Arabs and Kurds. Clashes in the city two weeks ago left 12 people dead, but doctors at the main hospital, Saddam General, said they had not had to treat any victims of ethnic violence for several days. The ethnic makeup of the local administration will be crucial in determining how such disputes are settled. Kurds in Kirkuk were in a celebratory mood today. Outside the government building where the voting took place, Kurdish police officers and guards danced traditional Kurdish steps to the beat of a large drum and the high, nasal hum of a folk horn. Passing cars honked. "I cannot describe how I am glad," said Kemal Kerkuki, a council member and a leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party here. "After so many years of dictatorship, we've chosen our own leader." Although an Arab was elected deputy mayor, Arab delegates were subdued. The Arab community was not as well equipped for political sparring as were the Kurds, who have years of experience working with American administrations. "We don't have a choice — we must be happy," one of the six Arab council members, Akar Nezal Altawil, said. "Kirkuk is not controlled by Kurds but by Kirkuk residents." Since the war, Kurds have made large strides in Kirkuk, a city they call their spiritual center that was the target of a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing beginning in the 1960's. The central police department, in the Ahmed Agha quarter, is staffed almost exclusively by Kurds. Other Kurdish cities sent doctors, police forces and even teachers. "Now the head of the government is a Kurd — that's very good," said Abdulla Rasheed, a senior police officer on duty today. "If an Arab had won, we would have gone back to the mountains," he added, referring to the traditional northern homeland of the Kurds. Arab neighborhoods were quiet today, though there are concerns that with today's Kurdish victory Arabs, feeling slighted, will strike back or that they will be subject to harassment and reprisals by local Kurds.