Iraq Faces Ethnic Conflict On New Front As Crisis Talks Fail

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-3-2003 | Harry de Quetteville

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Iraq faces ethnic conflict on new front after crisis talks fail

By Harry de Quetteville in Baghdad
(Filed: 03/01/2004)

The north of Iraq was threatened by ethnic conflict yesterday as crisis talks between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk failed to prevent continuing bloodshed in the divided city.

At least one man was killed after a demonstration by ethnic Arabs and Turkmen culminated in an exchange of gunfire with Kirkuk's mostly Kurdish police. The march followed a similar clash on Wednesday when five people died.

Events of the past week threaten to open up trouble on a new front in Iraq. Revenge, score-settling and power games between Sunni and Shia Muslims have long been blamed for assassinations and lynchings which have left a trail of bodies from either camp in their wake across the country.

But as the United States-led coalition attempts to keep a lid on the sectarian rivalry, mainly in the south and centre of the country, a serious ethnic rift has opened in Kurdistan in the north.

The bitter in-fighting between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk has been caused by a Kurdish proposal to include the city, 150 miles north of Baghdad, in the Kurd-administered part of a federal Iraq. Ethnic Arabs and Turkmen oppose the plan, claiming the Kurds are trying to seize the oil-rich city.

Tempers have reached such heights that armed gangs from each group have begun roaming its streets. A huge gunfight was heard in the city on Thursday night as police took on Arabs who were reported to have shot dead a Kurdish man.

Turhan Yussef, Kirkuk's police chief, also announced that the bodies of two other Kurds had been recovered. "Unknown attackers stabbed two Kurds to death and threw their bodies near a bridge in the centre of the city," he said.

The killings continued despite talks on Thursday between all three ethnic groups and the Coalition Provisional Authority aimed at restoring calm. Kurdish officials said all sides agreed that the killings should stop. But the meeting was split by long-held enmities.

Kurds blamed this week's violence on "Arabs faithful to former President Saddam Hussein" and "Turkmen extremists". But Arab leaders have since hit back, with one important tribal sheikh blaming Kurdish "arrogance".

"If Kurds continue to believe that Americans are on their side and just think about achieving maximum gains in the short term, then this will lead to a civil war," Sheikh Ghassan al-Obeidi said.

While the immediate cause of the week's fighting has been the Kurdish vision for Kirkuk, hatreds between the ethnic groups are fuelled by decades-old disputes.