Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KIRKUK117
2006-06-13 13:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
REO Kirkuk
Cable title:  

PUK LEADERSHIP: PARTY CHANGE, KRG UNITY, IRAN

Tags:  PGOV PREL PNAT KDEM KCOR EPET IZ IN 
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VZCZCXRO7113
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL
DE RUEHKUK #0117/01 1641334
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 131334Z JUN 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0664
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0626
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0692
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000117 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, ECON, IRMO, NCT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/13/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PNAT KDEM KCOR EPET IZ IN
SUBJECT: PUK LEADERSHIP: PARTY CHANGE, KRG UNITY, IRAN

KIRKUK 00000117 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting),Reo
Kirkuk, Department of State .
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000117

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, ECON, IRMO, NCT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/13/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PNAT KDEM KCOR EPET IZ IN
SUBJECT: PUK LEADERSHIP: PARTY CHANGE, KRG UNITY, IRAN

KIRKUK 00000117 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting),Reo
Kirkuk, Department of State .
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary. On May 31 PUK party leader Noshirwan Mustafa
informed PRT/REO POLOFS that the number of new KRG ministries
was linked to building support for the Kurds on the 2007 Kirkuk
Referendum. Further, the PUK would soon hold a congress to
restructure the party to adapt to the new political realities in
Iraq. Finally, he likened the oil crises in Basra - and pending
inability to pay government salaries - to the state collapse in
Somalia. In a separate meeting, Sulaymaniyah Governor Dana
expressed concern over the disparity between Iran-Iraq border
posts. End Summary.

Excess of Ministries Linked to Kirkuk Referendum
-------------- ---


2. (C) In a meeting with PRT Leader, Acting REO Coordinator and
IPAO, Noshirwan Mustafa admitted the excessive forty-two
ministries created as part of a unified KRG were part of a
political strategy to build alliances with non-Kurd minorities.
(NOTE: Smaller parties - composed mainly of Turkoman,
Christians, Yezidis, and Faily Kurds - nearly doubled their
representation from 6 to 11 ministries in the new government.
END NOTE.) Once the 2007 referendum returned Kirkuk to the
Kurdistan Region the number would be reduced.


3. (C) Discussing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's program for
implementing Article 140, Mustafa said the first period of
normalization entailed the return of IDP's and settlers to
Kirkuk with compensation and the restoration of the Kirkuk
Governorate to pre-1968 boundaries. In the next step, an
outside party such as the United Nations would supervise a
census, after which the referendum would be held. The KRG had
already appointed Dr. Mohammad Ihsan as minister for areas such
as Kirkuk that were outside the Kurdistan Region. He added that

Baghdad must follow through on ensuring a timely referendum as
per Article 140.


4. (C) Mustafa admitted the fourteen Kirkuk Provincial Council
members who were currently demanding Kirkuk become a federated
province were a problem. He felt that non-Kurds in Kirkuk, such
as Arabs who opposed Article 140 and the restoration of
boundaries to pre-1968 status, should move to Mosul or Tikrit.

Legal Issues at Heart of Full KRG Unification
--------------


5. (C) Mustafa said that before unifying the remaining
ministries, conflicting laws between Sulaymaniyah and Erbil
needed rectification, e.g. taxation, investment, and the
personal status laws. These were technical issues that, once
resolved, would open the way for the ministries of Justice and
Finance to unite. The Peshmerga ministries were the most
difficult to merge because they had been enemies for over thirty
years. He said they wanted to avoid a scenario similar to the
unification of East and West Germany where one side was absorbed
- or "eaten" - by the other.


6. (SBU) Mustafa said that the new ministries were meeting
regularly in Erbil. Although some employees had been let go,
all continued to receive full salaries. If the leadership
provided a good example, he felt confident the combined KDP-PUK
workforce would work together.

Security Concerns Override Corruption for Investors
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Mustafa said foreign companies were not investing in the
Kurdistan Region because of the overall perception of poor
security in Iraq, not because of corruption. He said the KRG
faced an unknown future because large companies such as GE or
British Shell were not differentiating between the two when it
came to security. "We can say we are fighting corruption however
they still would not come." He added that hundreds of Sunni and
Shia Arabs were working in Sulaymaniyah as doctors, engineers,
and professors, because it was safer than Baghdad.


9. (SBU) To address investor concerns with infrastructure, he
said a committee in parliament was drafting a new Investment
Law. At a recent meeting in Kuwait with potential investors,
banking, land, and investment laws dominated the discussion.

Reorganizing the PUK
--------------


10. (C) Mustafa said the PUK would soon hold a Party Congress in

KIRKUK 00000117 002.2 OF 002


order to rethink the direction and mission of the party. Party
members would elect participants, with representation for every
1,000 members. The goals of the congress include:

- Adapting the party platform to the post-Saddam era;
- Shifting the party structure from a communism-based
Politburo to one that distributed power throughout the
organization; and
- Reorganizing the leadership to include women and young
people by replacing the 'revolutionary' governing model with a
parliamentary methodology.


11. (C) Mustafa said the demonstrations in Halabja and Kalar
woke up both the KDP and PUK to the extent of public
dissatisfaction with the status quo. Further, Islamic parties
such as the KIU were growing in popularity because of the lack
of services, party-based corruption, and poverty. He said the
parties had not distributed services, including access to
health, education, housing, and electricity, equally.

Basra Oil Crisis - Precursor to a Somalia
--------------


12. (C) Mustafa stressed the importance of securing Basra for
all of Iraq, stating that Basra's petrol revenues provided the
majority of government salaries throughout the country. The
provinces were working as independent states because the
interruption of oil flow had dissolved unity. He said Iraq now
faced a state collapse similar to Somalia.

Sulaymaniyah Governor Raises Border Disparity issue
-------------- --------------


13. (C) Sulaymaniyah Governor Dana raised in a separate meeting
his concern over the disparity between conditions along the
Iraq-Iran border. He said that over the 415km where
Sulaymaniyah bordered Iran, Iraq had only 15 poorly maintained
police stations that had not been improved since the Peshmerga
era; and yet Iran had invested more into upgrading the roads,
providing troops with rockets, etc. Dana said the disparity
opened up the border to drugs, smuggling, and cross-border
terrorism.

Biographic Note:
--------------


14. (C) Noshirwan Mustafa is one of the most respected senior
PUK politburo members and widely expected to be one of those
vying to replace Talabani. He is considered the thinker of the
PUK and the only one who can rein in Kosrat Rasoul. He speaks
English well, however prefers to use translators for more
sensitive topics.

Comment:
--------------


15. (C) Both the KDP and PUK must adapt their parties to a new
post-Saddam, post-Peshmerga Kurdistan. The increased popularity
of the Islamic parties seems more daunting to the parties than
general unrest over corruption and continuing poverty; however
the impetus to update their agendas, however motivated, is
heartening. Dana's concern over Sulaymaniyah's loosely guarded
border is in the domain of the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad,
but without an MOI office in the region itself, the issue will
probably not be addressed any time soon. End comment.
BIGUS