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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (6540)	1/10/2004 7:52:52 AM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Arab-Kurd Compromise Nears Deal Would Allow Ministate Within Iraq After U.S. Leaves By Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, January 10, 2004; Page A14 washingtonpost.com After two days of talks between Arab and Kurdish leaders in Iraq, a compromise is taking shape that would allow the minority Kurds to keep their ministate within a united Iraq after the U.S. occupation ends, according to Iraqi and European officials. The tentative compromise, if confirmed by the Iraqi Governing Council and the United States, could defuse the hottest issue dividing Iraqis as they begin debate on how to distribute power in a new Iraqi government scheduled to take control June 30. The formula for a new federal state in Iraq effectively allows both sides to achieve their primary objectives. The Kurds, who have maintained their own state for the past dozen years, would turn over control of foreign policy, national defense and monetary policy to the central government, while they would retain autonomous rule in the northern area, Kurdish officials said yesterday. But some Arab leaders and U.S. officials are particularly concerned about Kurdish proposals during the talks to address two ongoing flashpoints -- internal security and the status of oil-rich Kirkuk. Both are potentially explosive problems that have long plagued relations among Iraq's rival ethnic groups. During talks in the mountainous Kurdish resort of Salahuddin, Kurdish leaders told members of the Governing Council that they are not prepared to accept any arrangement that will allow a new Iraqi army to enter their territory. "We cannot ever allow the Iraqi military to come into the north. It has to be subject to approval by the Kurdish parliament. We have 83 years of history when the Iraqi military was a tool of repression," Barham Salih, prime minister of the northern area ruled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said in a telephone interview. Kurds were the primary victims of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons, and he destroyed more than 80 percent of the Kurdish villages in the north and killed more than 180,000 Kurds. The Kurds, who have long relied on their own pesh merga militias, have instead proposed that they create a national guard to provide security in the north. It would be drawn from all population groups in the region, including the pesh merga militias and minority Turkmens. While it would be recognized as an arm of national defense policy, it would be led by the Kurds, Kurdish officials said. This arrangement could set off alarms in neighboring Turkey, which has its own restive Kurdish population and has long been concerned about an independently armed Kurdish population in an autonomous region of Iraq. The other potential controversy is a Kurdish proposal to resolve the status of oil-rich Kirkuk, historically a predominantly Kurdish area that was "Arabized" by Hussein during a decades-long ethnic cleansing campaign to drive out the Kurds. Hussein offered financial and other incentives to Arab families who disinterred ancestors and brought their bodies for reburial in Kirkuk, aimed at further establishing Arab claims to the area, according to international human rights groups. The Kurds have proposed a compromise where "Arabization" and ethnic cleansing would be reversed by negotiating a "fair and legal process" that would allow the return of original inhabitants, Kurdish and Iraqi sources said. After that lengthy process was completed, Kirkuk's residents would vote in a referendum to decide whether the area should be part of the Kurdish provinces or the Arab part of the country, the sources said. "There has to be a compromise by all sides. Our claim to Kirkuk is based in history, geography and population, and we want to incorporate it into our region. But we'll adopt a democratic way for people to decide what they want, rather than simply say the area is ours. This is a major concession," Salih said. But U.S. officials cautioned that weeks of discussion lie ahead before these issues -- only a small part of the broader Transitional Administration Law, which is the precursor to a new constitution -- are resolved. "There needs to be a thorough discussion and transparent debate on the important issues facing Iraqis, including federalism. Whatever the solutions the Iraqis arrive at needs to be arrived at by all Iraqis as well as by the U.S.-led coalition. This remains a very fluid situation," a senior administration official said yesterday. The discussions will continue between the Kurds and a U.S. working group over the next two or three days, Kurdish and U.S. officials said. Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Masoud Barzani are then expected to go to Baghdad for talks with the full Governing Council. The U.S.-led coalition is expected to announce this weekend a round of town hall meetings throughout Iraq to widen public discussion on specifics of the new law, which is to be concluded by Feb. 28, U.S. officials said.