Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KIRKUK61
2006-03-14 12:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
REO Kirkuk
Cable title:  

TRIBAL LEADER WARNS OF FUNDAMENTALISM, CORRUPTION IN KURDISH

Tags:  PGOV KDEM KISL PHUM APER IR SY TU IZ PREL 
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VZCZCXRO8021
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHMOS
DE RUEHKUK #0061/01 0731221
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 141221Z MAR 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0525
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0561
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0589
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000061 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, POLMIL, NCT, ROL COORDINATOR, USAID, IRMO/IPCC,
IRMO FOR BATES AND CAPLES

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KISL PHUM APER PRELIZ IR SY TU
SUBJECT: TRIBAL LEADER WARNS OF FUNDAMENTALISM, CORRUPTION IN KURDISH
REGION OF IRAQ

REF: KIRKUK 46

KIRKUK 00000061 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Michael Oreste, Deputy PRT Team Leader, PRT
Kirkuk, DoS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000061

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, POLMIL, NCT, ROL COORDINATOR, USAID, IRMO/IPCC,
IRMO FOR BATES AND CAPLES

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KISL PHUM APER PRELIZ IR SY TU
SUBJECT: TRIBAL LEADER WARNS OF FUNDAMENTALISM, CORRUPTION IN KURDISH
REGION OF IRAQ

REF: KIRKUK 46

KIRKUK 00000061 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Michael Oreste, Deputy PRT Team Leader, PRT
Kirkuk, DoS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY. The leader of the second largest Kurdish tribe
in Iraq, the Harki, identified corruption, nepotism and the
growth of Islamic fundamentalism fueled by economic instability
as the major threats to democracy in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Shaykh Mahmud Asad Fattah Harki said that the Iraqi people
blamed the U.S. for both problems; further, they believe the
U.S. is deliberately stalling the formation of the Iraqi
Government because of its own self-interests. End Summary.


2. (C) This is the first cable reporting a series of interviews
with leaders of four influential Kurdish tribes in Iraq,
including the Harki, Baradusti, Surchi, and Zebari. On March
10, IPAO's met with Shaykh Harki, a former member of the Iraqi
Transitional National Assembly and current member of the
Kurdistan National Assembly.

Nepotism Feeds Corruption
--------------


3. (C) According to Shaykh Harki, "Corruption, which is
flourishing throughout Iraqi politics and civil society, has
weakened the democratic process in Iraq." He called corruption
"the biggest virus from Al Basrah to the Kurdish region." Harki
said that nepotism is the principal cause of corruption. He
added that the absence of security and economic instability also
stimulated corruption. He asserted that there needs to be a
separation between the government and the political parties,
citing the self-interest on the part of the political party
leaders, who are profiting from a fuel crisis of their own
making. (REFTEL) Party leaders were appointing loyalists
rather than qualified candidates for government posts. He
complained there was neither accountability nor punitive
measures in place to counter political abuses.


KURDISH PUBLIC BLAMING COALITION FOR PROBLEMS
--------------


4. (C) Harki said that Kurdish public opinion towards the
Coalition has shifted. The public blamed Americans for the fact
that the Iraqi government was still not formed three months
after the elections and believed that the U.S. was deliberately
delaying the formation to protect its own interests. Harki
warned that many Kurds faulted the U.S. for the fuel crisis.
"This is very serious. If the fuel shortage is not resolved,
people will fight you over this crisis." The Kurdish people
believed the U.S. could easily resolve these political and
economic issues if it wanted. Moreover, these problems paved
the way for terrorism and resulted in a separation between the
Iraqi people and the U.S., even though the Iraqi leaders were
talking to Americans. IPAO's reassured him that this was not the
case. Harki, continuing in the same vein, noted that a woman on
Iraqi TV recently said that life was better under Saddam Husayn
because at least the Iraqi people had gasoline and electricity.
That said, Harki estimated that ninety percent of the Kurds
still support the MNF-I and want the Coalition to stay in the
region. He added, however, that the KRG also has (Islamic)
fanatics, like in the rest of Iraq.

FEAR OF GROWING FUNDAMENTALISM IN REGION
--------------


5. (C) Harki said that if there were no plan to fight
fundamentalism, then the Islamic Parties would grow. Most
people in the Kurdish region, illiterate and uneducated, would
be drawn to the Islamic parties, if security and basic services
did not improve. Harki recommended that the U.S. advise the
Kurdish parties to better serve the Iraqi people. He suggested
that the KRG is the best mechanism for providing services and
resolving economic problems. Although the Kurdistan Islamic
Union was not a group of fanatics now, he feared what they might
do if they had more power.

TRIBES AND PARTIES TOGETHER ON POLITICAL MATTERS
-------------- ---


6. (C) According to Harki, the Kurdish people wanted more than
autonomy, they wanted independence. The U.S. and Iraqi
Government needed to respect the implementation of Article 58
and agree on the right mechanism to minimize future problems.
Harki said the Kurdish tribes shared the same political
positions generally with the KDP and PUK on regional issues,

KIRKUK 00000061 002.2 OF 002


though each tribe might have members with different political
affiliations. The tribes and parties in the past have clashed
over power, but their future relations were unclear. The
majority of Kurds continued to work with the two major parties
because they did not trust Islamism. Harki said the tribes
today have much less influence on their members than in the
past.

HARKI TRIBAL HISTORY
--------------


7. (C) The Harki tribe is the second biggest Kurdish tribe in
Iraq. Its members also live in Iran and Turkey. Originally the
tribe consisted of sheepherders from the Turkish Chwar Chal
(Four Mountain Peaks) area and was considered one of the
wealthiest Kurdish tribes. Shaykh Harki estimated that his
tribe made up 10 percent of Kurds in the world. Within Iraq,
the tribe primarily lives in Aqri (near Dahuk),Mosul, and
Arbil. Outside Iraq, most Harki live in the Urimiyah province
in Iran, and Shanzinan, Turkey. All tribal members are
relatives. Shaykh Harki said he had one brother in Iran and a
cousin in Turkey.


8. (C) Shaykh Harki described the process of succession in the
Harki tribe as democratic. A council of tribal elders -
consisting of 20 to 30 family heads - select its own leader in
each geographic branch. The eldest man in the tribe used to
oversee the entire tribe, but that is no longer the case.
Shaykh Harki became the leader of the tribe in Iraq in 1985,
when his uncle died. Harki's father preceded his uncle as
tribal leader until his father's death in 1976.


9. (C) Shaykh Harki claimed the Iraqi Harkis enjoy good
relations with its Iranian and Turkish branches, as well as the
other Kurdish tribes in Iraq. Following the Kurdish uprising
against the Iraqi regime in 1991 the Council of the Tribes was
dissolved. In 1993, Shaykh Harki and four other tribal leaders
visited the U.S. State Department, the Foreign and Defense
Ministries of the UK, and Saudi Arabia with the aim to gain
protection for the Kurds from these nations. At that time, most
Kurdish tribal leaders supported the Iraqi regime, except the
Harki tribe in Arbil. Shaykh Harki said he supported the KDP
because he lived within its administrative jurisdiction. There
were no influential Harki women in business or politics, but
Shaykh Harki said he had a plan to encourage more women to
participate in government.

BIOGRAPHIC NOTE:
--------------


10. (C) Shaykh Harki was born in 1955. He has five children -
three sons and two daughters - and has a bachelor's degree in
agriculture from Baghdad University. His wife is an art teacher
and is from the Dosti tribe; his brother-an AMCIT living in
Alaska-has worked with the Coalition during Operation Iraqi
Freedom.

COMMENT:
--------------


11. (C) Shaykh Harki expressed frustration that the U.S. had
waited three years to meet with him, telling IPAO's that it was
too late to understand the tribes. He said he was disappointed
in how he had explained to several U.S. generals during the CPA
days the importance of the Kurdish tribes, yet the U.S. had not
reached out to him. Shaykh Harki was dressed in traditional
tribal garb and understood and spoke some English - sometimes
correcting the interpreter. He described his community as
"first Muslim, second tribal." Although Shaykh Harki claimed
that it was too late to understand the tribes, IPAO'S recently
have had much success in meeting with and eliciting information
from Kurdish tribal leaders. The shaykhs for the most part have
been open and candid in their views, and IPAO's assess that our
discussions with these leaders represent a window into the
social context of the Kurdish region.
ORESTE