KIRKUK ARAB LEADERS DENOUCE PLAN TO RETURN ARABS TO THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000130

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINS PTER PREL KISL IZ IR TU
SUBJECT: KIRKUK ARAB LEADERS DENOUCE PLAN TO RETURN ARABS TO THE
SOUTH

KIRKUK 00000130 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Jim Bigus, PRT Team Leader, POL, Department of
State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY: Several Kirkuk Arab leaders
including
Sunni and Shia representatives criticized plans to return Kirkuk
Arabs
to the south. They agreed that while many Arabs have already
left, it
was primarily due to discrimination, persecution, and arrests.
They
stated that Kurdish political parties were paying salaries to
poor Arab
families as enticement to relocate. Finally, they discussed a
new group
formed in Baghdad called "Kirkuk for Iraqis" that was headed by
former
Prime minister Ja'afri that plans to lobby Iraqi politicians,
Turkey,
and Iran in reference to Kirkuk's future. END INTRODUCTION AND
SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) IPAO met with Ahmed Al-Ubaydi, the Kirkuk Head of the
Iraqi
Republican Gathering (IRG) and Coordinator of the Arab
Consultative
Council, the Sunni Arab umbrella organization in Kirkuk; Sheik
Abdul
Razaq Nawa Al-Ubaydi, head of the Ubaydi tribe in Kirkuk and vice
president of the United Arab Front; and Office of the Martyr
Sadr (OMS)
representative Dr. Abdul Karim Khalifa al-Hassan on July 10 to
discuss
the implementation of article 140 in Kirkuk.

ARABS WILL FIGHT IF KIRKUK JOINS THE KRG
--------------


3. (SBU) Sheik Abdul Razaq Nawa Al-Ubaydi began the discussion
by
strongly stating that he was from Kirkuk and lamented current
ethnic
tensions in the city. He agreed that many Arabs have already
fled to
the south but that was primarily due to abuse, discrimination,
persecution, and arrests. He specifically noted the negative
effect on
the community of arresting Arabs and sending them to the KRG
where "they
are lost", do not receive due process, and their families were
not told
of their status. Sheik Ubaydi stated that his children and
grandchildren were born in Kirkuk, this was his home, and he
would stay
and fight if that's what it takes. He, and many like him, were
currently cooperating with the local government but he noted
that he
would be "terrorist #1" if the Arabs were forced out of Kirkuk.

CITIZENS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO MOVE FREELY WITHOUT COERSION
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) OMS representative Dr. Hassan stated that all
citizens in
Iraq should be free to move and live without discrimination
throughout
the country. He used the United States as an example and felt
that
enticing people with money was as bad as forcing people to move.
He
noted that the Kurdish political parties were paying salaries to
poor
Arab families and coaching them to act as representatives of the
Kirkuk
Arab population. The Arabs who were paid used distorted
statistics
supplied by the Kurds and were not representative of "anything
but
greed" according to Hassan. He explained that most families
that have
moved have done so because of fear and hunger. It was lack of
opportunity and harassment coupled with promises of payment that
were
encouraging citizens to say they want to move. According to
Hassan,
"Bremer was smart when he wrote the TAL, he recognized that
Kirkuk needs
to be an independent province". He also noted that claims of

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large
numbers of Arabs wanting to leave Kirkuk were Kurdish lies.

GROUP - "KIRKUK FOR IRAQIS" ORGANIZED
--------------


5. (C) IRG head Ahmed al-Ubaydi believes that the Kurdish
dream for
Kirkuk will never exist "unless all the Arabs in Kirkuk are
killed". He
stated that the only reason the constitution was originally
passed was
because there was an agreement to re-open discussions on article

140.
He and a group of Sunni and Shia leaders from Kirkuk have been
visiting
Baghdad weekly to push for changes in the article 140 process.
He noted
that his group was also interested in talking to neighboring
countries
Turkey and Iran in the hope that they could have an impact on
the Kirkuk
negotiations.


6. (C) Sheik Ubaydi said that the Sunni and Shia Arabs of
Kirkuk were
working on a plan for Kirkuk's future. He described a Baghdad
working
group called "Kirkuk for Iraqis" headed by former Prime Minister
Ja'afri. The group was in discussions with Iraqi politicians and
planned
to meet with Turkey and Iran. He noted that it was only Hakim
who
supports this idea of original Arabs. The Kirkuk for Iraqis
group
rejects the idea of original versus non-original Arabs in
Kirkuk. That
is only Kurdish propaganda according to the Sheik. Sheik Ubaydi
is
concerned that the Kurds and some of the Shia parties will make a
federalism deal that will lead to the de facto division Iraq. He
believed this was an ominous outcome because "Kirkuk would go to
the
Kurds and Southern federalism only means the south will be part
of Iran
and all patriotic Iraqis hate Iran".

BIOGRAPHIC NOTE
--------------


7. (SBU) Sheik Abdul Razaq Nawa Al-Ubaydi came to Kirkuk from
the south
in 1960. He is currently vice president of the Southern Tribe
Council,
vice president of the united Arab front and a member of the Arab
council. He patiently waits during discussions and when he
speaks
chooses his words carefully. He has a calm demeanor and
exhibits less
of a tendency towards exaggerated rhetoric.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) The Kirkuk Shia and Sunni groups feel abandoned by their
brethren in the south on the Kirkuk question and are attempting
to work
together. On the one hand they try to downplay their religious
identities and attempt to strike a traditional pan-Arab posture.
However, "we are all Arabs" is often interspersed with
statements like
"all Iraqis hate Iran". With the reference to Hakim and the
recruitment
of Ja'afri to their cause it appears the group is attempting to
capitalize on political differences in the Shia voting bloc.
JBIGUS