(SBU) KIRKUK LEADERS CALMING TENSIONS OVER DANISH CARTOONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIRKUK 000029 SIPDIS SIPDIS BAGHDAD FOR POL AND NCT E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/6/2016 TAGS: BAGHDAD FOR POL AND NCT SUBJECT: (SBU) KIRKUK LEADERS CALMING TENSIONS OVER DANISH CARTOONS REF: KIRKUK 0020 CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting),REO Kirkuk, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) (U) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Kirkuk's Muslim community remains angry about the negative portrayals of Muhammad in a Danish journal. However, there has been widespread public condemnation by leaders of virtually all of Kirkuk's ethnic and religious groups of the recent church bombings in Kirkuk. END SUMMARY. (U) ATTACKS CONDEMNED BY ARABS, KURDS, TURCOMANS -------------- --- ¶2. (SBU) According to a variety of our contacts, although the Islamic community of Kirkuk remains angry about the Danish cartoon issue, Muslim leaders here are horrified that some have taken this incident as an excuse to attack local churches. Provincial Council chairman and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Kirkuk Rizgar Ali, a secular Kurd, condemned both the cartoons and the church bombings during a January 31 meeting of the provincial council. (Note: About 150 people had participated in a protest demonstration against the cartoons the day before the bombings. End Note.) ¶3. (SBU) Rizgar Ali was not alone. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) also condemned the attacks. Rizgar Ali and Kirkuk Governor 'Abd al Rahman Mustafa then condemned the attacks on Kirkuk television. Perhaps even more importantly, the Arab Consultative Council, a Kirkuk umbrella group of local Sunni Arab leaders that includes representatives of the Iraqi Republican Gathering and the Iraqi National Gathering, among others, issued a statement against such attacks. The Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) asked Arab clerics in Hawijah and Kirkuk to condemn the bombings and they did so during the sermons at Friday prayers. Leaders of the Turcoman (Sunni and Shiite) and Shiite Arab communities also added their voice to the chorus of condemnations. (U) Comment -------------- ¶4. (C) Not only are local Islamic leaders not stoking the flames of sectarianism, but it seems that almost everyone here agrees that these attacks were unjustified. If anything, these attacks have backfired on the perpetrators. DEAN