(C) TOZKHURMATO TO JOIN KIRKUK PROVINCE?

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIRKUK 000047

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, ECON, NCT, IRMO, USAI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/27/2016
TAGS: PGOV PBTS EAID PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: (C) TOZKHURMATO TO JOIN KIRKUK PROVINCE?

REF: KIRKUK 18

CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting),REO
Kirkuk, DoS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (U) This is a joint Kirkuk and SET Tikrit cable.

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SUMMARY
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2. (C) Governor Hamad of Salah ad Din Province says he would not
object to Tozkhurmato's rejoining Kirkuk province, were
residents to favor that in a referendum. By contrast, a
Tozkhurmato Turcoman strongly opposed the idea the same day with
SET. Saddam removed Tozkhurmato from Kirkuk province; the Kurds
want it back. The KRG has been giving assistance to Salah ad
Din province to win support. The Constitution requires a
referendum before the end of 2007. Tozkhurmato's significant
Kurdish population supports joining Kirkuk province and the KRG.
Advance acquiescence from the Salah ad Din governor should help
that along.

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CONVERSATIONS
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3. (C) With SET on February 21, Governor Hamad of Salah ad Din
province confirmed that he would not object to Tozkhurmato's
rejoining Kirkuk province, were residents to favor that in a
referendum. This followed February 20 press reports that the
governor had made similar remarks to Kirkuk Governor
'Abd-al-Rahman Mustapha. Governor Hamad explained to SET that
the people of Tozkhurmato were more like those of Kirkuk (read:
were Kurds and Turcomans) and would be happier there.


4. (C) By contrast, a Turcoman from Tozkhurmato, Salah ad Din
Provincial Council member Dr. Sami Aria Mohammad, strongly
opposed the idea. Sami charged that Kirkuk already was rife
with ethnic discrimination and complained that, even without
Kurds from Tozkhurmato, the Turcoman percentage of Kirkuk
province had already declined from 70% in the 1970's to only 50%
now because of Arabization. Annexing Tozkhurmato would only
reduce the Turcoman percentage in Kirkuk province further.


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COMMENT
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5. (SBU) Tozkhurmato's population is predominantly Kurd and
Turcoman. Saddam sliced the area off from Kirkuk province and
merged it in 1975 with Tikrit, Balad and Samarra from Baghdad to
create Salah ad Din, a new province for his hometown. The Kurds
want Tozkhurmato back. As reported reftel, the Kurdish region
has been donating assistance to Salah ad Din Province to win
political leaders' support for returning Tozkhurmato to Kirkuk
province, which Kurds expect in turn to join the Kurdish region.
(KRG authorities are also, for example, donating money for
equipment and fuel at Tozkhurmato's biggest business: a
state-owned poultry farm.)


6. (C) The Salah ad Din Governor's comment is significant.
Except for some Kurdish-dominated districts now in Mosul
province, Tozkhurmato is the only area Saddam separated from
Kirkuk province that is not already in the Kurdistan Region.
Internal KRG boundary adjustments to return Kirkuk province to
its original boundaries will be easy for the Kurds if both
Tozkhurmato and Kirkuk province join the KRG as the Kurds
expect.


7. (C) The Constitution requires a referendum on disputed
territories such as Tozkhurmato by the end of 2007. This being
Iraq, we do not yet know if the country will meet that
constitutional timeline nor how the results of that referendum
will meet the "principle of justice" that the Constitution,
through its incorporation of TAL Article 58, also requires in a
settlement. When the vote comes, though, Tozkhurmato's
significant Kurdish population will almost certainly support
joining Kirkuk province and the KRG. Many Arabs and some
Turcomans may oppose this unless the Kurds can convince them
that life as a minority in Kurdistan will be better than life in
Salah ad Din Province. However, advance acquiescence from the
Salah ad Din governor to the Kurdish plan should help the KRG to
retake Tozkhurmato.

ORESTE