KURDISH LEADER BARZANI WANTS WEAK CENTRAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003044

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: KURDISH LEADER BARZANI WANTS WEAK CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT TO PREVENT FUTURE IRAQI OPPRESSION

REF: BAGHDAD 2981

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires David M. Satterfield for reasons 1.4 (

b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Kurdish Regional Government President
Masood Barzani and his advisors want a constitution that
purposely leaves the central government weak as a means of
ensuring that Kurds do not again suffer from Arab tyranny.
Barzani emphasized that he does not agree to references to
Islamic shari'a in the draft constitution text. He wants
strong references to human rights and women's rights, an
issue the Charge stressed was of vital importance to the U.S.
as well. The Kurdish President said that the Kurds have an
opportunity to establish a federal system that will prevent
future oppression from Baghdad. This was vital, he
underlined. Barzani let his advisors explain the Kurdish
demand that the Kurdish regional government own the natural
resources in Kurdistan. They said that the central
government could not be trusted to share revenues fairly.
The Charge urged them to look at the revenue issue not just
from a domestic angle but also to consider its international
aspects and find wording that would best enable the Iraqi
government to work with the international financial
community. Barzani said he would attend a political summit
in Baghdad to close the negotiations on the constitution if
it is held. End Summary.

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Individual Freedoms are Essential
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2. (C) Kurdish Regional Government President and KDP leader
Masood Barzani told the Charge July 20 that the TAL was a
good basis for a constitution. He said the July 18 draft of
the constitution received from National Assembly constitution
committee chairman Shaykh Hamudi represents a big step
backwards. It could delay finishing the final draft past the
August 15 date in the transition law - something Barzani said
he would prefer to avoid. Charge reiterated the strong U.S.
opinion that the August 15 date must be respected. Iraq, and
Iraq's Kurds, is approaching a key moment. The constitution
must be finished on time, but it must be the right
constitution that includes individual freedoms and guarantees
of human rights and women's rights. Barzani had stood up for
these freedoms in the past. Charge urged Barzani come to
Baghdad for a political summit to bring the current
negotiations to a close. Charge underscored the importance
the President attaches to Barzani's positive, personal
engagement on the constitution and-in this context-extended
an invitation for Barzani to come to Washington to meet with
the President later this year as appropriate. Barzani said he
was honored by the invitation and looked forward to the
visit.


3. (C) Barzani said he would come to a political summit in
Baghdad, although he might not appear for the first day or
two due to the optics in Erbil. He insisted he was involved
in the negotiations from a distance. A Kurdish parliamentary
delegation would go to Baghdad July 22 to advise the Kurdish
leadership in the capital. The Kurdish President underlined
his support for religious freedom and women's rights. He
scoffed at the idea of mentioning Islamic shari'a in the
constitution; he wondered whether it would be shari'a derived
from Sunni or Shia teaching.

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Federalism Key to Kurdish Rights
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4. (C) KDP Politburo member Faisal Merani referred to the
recent Kurdish proposal (ref) and said that the Kurds wanted
constitutional guarantees with respect to the administration
of Iraq and its security arrangements. The proposal came
originally from the Kurdish parliament and was aimed to be
the starting point of discussions with Sunni Arabs and Shia.
Masood Barzani said that the current moment represents an
opportunity for the Kurds who have suffered throughout their
history. The Kurds accepted being part of Iraq, he said, but
not "with a knife at their throats." The Kurds now had a
chance to secure their rights through "historical and
geographical" federalism.

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Revenue Ownership - Aiming to Hobble Baghdad
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5. (C) Charge urged the Kurds to find a way to finesse
ownership of natural resources so that they were not
officially divided between the central government and the
regions or governorates. Revenue sharing in subsequent
budget laws were what many advanced countries used, and the
international financial community would be able to work far
more easily with Iraq were ownership of the resources not at
question. Barzani's Kurdish colleagues reacted strongly.
His son Masrur (who is responsible for security in the
Kurdish Regional Government) said ownership of the resources
is the Kurds' right. The Arabs had long begrudged the Kurds
of their rights. Ownership, allocation and management of the
resources are all at issue. Masrur underlined that if the
Kurds have at least some part of the oil resources in
Kurdistan then they could deal from a position of strength
with the Iraqi central government.

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The Kurds Search for Guarantees
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6. Parliament Speaker Adnan Mufti chimed in that the Kurds
had renounced an independent country - a huge concession made
on the basis of realism. They worry, however, that the
currently weak central government will grow strong again and
oppress the Kurds or other groups in the future. He wondered
if guarantees from the U.N. that the new constitution would
be respected could be secured and whether they would have any
weight. Masood Barzani commented that guarantees were vital
but would be hard to find. The U.S. would not stay in Iraq
in forever. If it did, that could constitute a guarantee
that the constitution would be respected. He saw nothing
that could take its place if it departed. Barzani wondered
how then Iraqi society would contain a future dictator in
Baghdad. Already, he observed with real bitterness, Prime
Minister Jafari changed the oath taken by ministers to remove
mention of a federal Iraq. This is a bad harbinger. His son
Masrur then concluded that the Kurds want a constitution that
stops domination. Ownership of the revenues would be a means
to that end.


7. (C) Charge agreed that Iraq had been a republic of fear
and should never be so again. He urged the Kurds to look
beyond the domestic angle of the revenue question and
remember the international aspect: the international
financial community would be less eager to work with the
central government in Baghdad if the ownership of the natural
resources was left with local authorities.

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The Current Budget and the Kurdish Worry
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8. (C) Separately with PolCouns, KDP Politburo member Fadil
Merani noted that the Shia and Kurds had agreed that the
Finance Ministry had promised to transfer 17 percent of the
Iraqi oil revenues to the KRG. Instead, the KRG had received
only a small portion. (He said the Iraqi Finance Ministry
was calculating revenues at USD 25 / barrel, while the real
sales price was closer to USD 60.) He was adamant that the
KRG had raised the allegedly missing payments with the
Finance Ministry in Baghdad and with Prime Minister Jafari
but had received no satisfaction. There was no higher
authority to appeal to, Merani stated. PolCouns asked
whether an annual budget law negotiated with the Kurds and
other elected leaders in Baghdad could not resolve the
problem. Merani shot back that the Shia were not respecting
the current agreement. There was no court visible in Iraq
that would be able to compel the Finance Ministry to respect
a future budget law.


9. (C) Comment: This was by far the most substantive
meeting we have had with Barzani on constitutional issues.
Their unhappiness from the experience with Jafari has
exacerbated older Kurdish fears of Arab tyranny. It is now
evident that the Kurdish push to control resources is about
both weakening the central government and ensuring that the
KRG gets its money. We will keep pushing on the revenue
ownership question while we push them to look more ways to
secure workable guarantees. Interestingly, while Masood
Barzani said he was involved in the constitutional
negotiations, he seemed not aware of the details. Instead,
he turned to his colleagues to chime in on details, and they
were eager to speak out.

10. (U) REO Basrah, REO Kirkuk, REO Mosul, REO Hillah,
minimize considered.
Satterfield