(U) KURDISTAN REFERENDUM MOVEMENT LEADERS DISCUSS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIRKUK 000124 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/15/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PNAT PREF PREL PBTS KDEM IZ SUBJECT: (U) KURDISTAN REFERENDUM MOVEMENT LEADERS DISCUSS ORGANIZATION GOALS, INDEPENDENCE KIRKUK 00000124 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: Tim Uselmann, Political Officer, IPAO, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (a),(d) ¶1. (C) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY: IPAO on July 3 met with leaders of the Kurdistan Referendum Movement (KRM) to discuss the structure of the organization, its current political goals, and future plans for a referendum on Kurdistan independence. (Note: the KRM was responsible for an unofficial poll during the January 2005 national and provincial elections, in which allegedly 98 percent of Iraqi Kurds voted for independence. A group of Kurdish intellectuals organized the KRM in July 2003 to push for the right of Iraqi Kurds to hold a referendum to determine their future political status. The proposed referendum would present Iraqi Kurds with only two choices, to remain part of Iraq or to secede to form an independent Kurdistan nation. End note.) Attending the meeting were four heads of the KRM "high committee" in Sulaymaniyah, Fattah Khalil, Tahir Hassan, Shukriyah Hussein, and Mohabad Mohamed-Amin.. END INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. (C) HISTORY AND STRUCTURE OF THE REFERENDUM MOVEMENT -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) IPAO on 3 July 2006 met with KRM leaders to discuss their organization's history and structure, political leanings, and future goals. The movement developed following Operation Iraqi Freedom from Kurdish concerns about Coalition plans for the Middle East as a whole and for the Kurds in particular. A group of Iraqi Kurdish intellectuals met in Sulaymaniyah in July 2003 to establish a plan for Iraqi Kurds to determine their own destiny, a movement which soon spread to several cities in Kurdistan as well as to Kirkuk, Mosul and other areas. The KRM held its first conference in Arbil in December 2003, after which the KRM collected over 2 million signatures to present to the Iraqi Transitional Government, the United Nations and the Coalition Forces to demand that Iraqi Kurds be given the right to hold a referendum to decide their future political status in Iraq. With the second conference, held in March 2005, the KRM became an official Non-Government Organization. A third conference is being organized to meet in Arbil in late July or early August 2006, during which members will meet to chart the future course of the organization. Currently, the KRM is organized around 8-member "high committees" located in Kirkuk, Mosul, Dohuk, Sulaymaniyah, Arbil, and Khanaqin. Beneath the high committees are local "coordination committees" for each of which at least one member must also be a member of the high committee. The coordination committee is responsible for mobilizing the Kurdish people for demonstrations or any referendum action. The KRM leaders claim to have coordination committees in nearly every village and town of the Kurdish areas in Iraq. (C) INDEPENDENT -- BUT TO WHAT DEGREE? -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) The representatives asserted the KRM has no plans to become a legitimate political party to run against the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and has no formal connection with the two main Kurdish parties. The members also claim KIRKUK 00000124 002.2 OF 003 that the KRM maintains its independence and that the organization is not associated with any specific party, although KRM members come from many political parties to include the KDP and PUK. This independence permits the KRM to move across political sectors and garner wide public support. The leaders noted, however, that the KRM has relied on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),and by extension the KDP and PUK, for much of its security, transportation, and funding since the elections in January. (Note: according to anecdotal reports, the KRM was created with the consent of the two main Kurdish parties, allegedly to assist Kurdish leaders during negotiations with Baghdad by permitting them to point to Kurdish popular sentiment in favor of secession and independence. End note.) The members also cited several parties whose goals are closely aligned with those of the KRM, such as the Kurdistan Toilers Party, the Kurdistan Social Democratic Party, and the Kurdistan Islamic Union. (C) PLATFORM OF ANTI-CORRUPTION, FREE PRESS -------------- ¶4. (C) The KRM leaders staunchly support recent KDP and PUK efforts at political reform and ending corruption in the Kurdish region. As a popular movement, the KRM members claim they are able to mobilize a groundswell of public sentiment to achieve genuine party reforms. According to the representatives, the KRM recently supported the PUK establishing an Office of Questions, which is responsible for investigating any reports of corruption or abuse on the part of PUK officials. The KRM is also behind efforts to campaign against suppression of free press and maintains close ties with the regional media. (C) SIGNATURES, ARTICLE 140, AND REMOVING THE "NEW ARABS" -------------- - ¶5. (C) The KRM members said their organization would address several issues immediately. Currently, the KRM is collecting signatures internationally to recognize Kurdistan's right to hold a referendum on independence. The KRM will now begin collecting signatures in Kurdistan to legitimize this right to the new Iraqi government. Like other Kurdish groups, the KRM leaders are turning their attention to implementation of Article 140, believing that Kirkuk and other disputed areas, from Khanaqin to Mosul, are part of the Kurdistan region. The KRM leaders stated that so-called "new Arabs" or "settlers" have committed human rights violations and must return to their places of origin as part of implementing Article 140. None of the KRM members present indicated any faith in the new prime minister, stating that like Jafari, Maliki is a Shia so he will naturally oppose Article 140 and make unilateral decisions from Baghdad that are designed to distract from normalization of Kirkuk. The KRM representatives also noted that the federal constitution does not protect the rights of Kurds. The new KRG constitution is supposed to protect Kurdish rights but does not enshrine Kurdistan's right to self-determination, which the KRM claims is one reason the draft has not yet been ratified. The members alleged the KRM mobilized popular support to amend the KRG constitution to include language on self-determination. KIRKUK 00000124 003.2 OF 003 (U) COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) If effective in mobilizing public support for a referendum on independence, the KRM's coordination committees, connections with regional media, and platform of anti-corruption and party reform could constitute a potential recipe to radically alter the current, more moderate, tenor of Kurdish politics with little warning. Although the KRM apparently lacks the necessary resources to launch a large-scale campaign to challenge the two main parties, the KRM publicly backing one of the alternative Kurdish parties, such as the KIU, could transform Kurdish politics and bring the independence issue to the fore during the referendum on Kirkuk and upcoming provincial elections. JBIGUS