HALABJAH DISCONTENT SPARKS VIOLENCE, CRACKDOWN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIRKUK 000069 SIPDIS SIPDIS BAGHDAD FOR POL, PAO, ROL COORDINATOR, NCT, IRMO, USAID E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/24/2016 TAGS: PINS PGOV KDEM KCOR KISL IZ IR SUBJECT: HALABJAH DISCONTENT SPARKS VIOLENCE, CRACKDOWN REF: KIRKUK 36 KIRKUK 00000069 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting),REO Kirkuk, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. On March 16, protestors in Halabjah torched a museum erected to commemorate the March 16, 1988, chemical weapons attack there. Locals believe the PUK has largely used the Halabjah museum to extract foreign assistance, but failed to spend the funds on Halabjah. Most protestors were students. The government says one boy was killed; four were injured. Acting Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)-Sulaymaniyah Prime Minister Ahmad (PUK) blamed "outsiders" and Islamic militants for the violence. Acknowledging public concerns about the rampant KRG corruption that reportedly sparked the protest, he pledged to address corruption. He and the KDP, KIU, KIG, and Kurdistan Communist Party issued a joint statement on March 17 condemning the violence and setting up commissions to investigate it. Police arrested 10 students and had already released some by March 18. One source said that the Asayish were torturing the students in hopes of getting them to confess that Islamic radicals had caused the protest. On March 18, "Hawlati," the region's only major independent newspaper, called on the two major Kurdish parties (the PUK and KDP) to give up power. PUK authorities immediately arrested the writer for defaming the PUK KRG but released him on March 19. The PUK organized a counter protest March 20 and is blaming Islamists for the violence. END INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. VIOLENCE ERUPTS -------------- ¶2. (U) As reported throughout the media, protestors in Halabjah on March 16 charged and torched the museum erected there to commemorate the March 16, 1988, chemical weapons attack. (Secretary Powell had attended the museum's opening on September 15, 2003.) RC(A) spoke March 18 with the freelance interpreter that the New York Times used for its March 17 story; REO has also spoken by phone with the Halabjah mayor and police chief. We have based our reconstruction of events on these sources; they largely confirm the media reports. Locals believe the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Sulaymaniyah, dominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, has largely used the Halabjah museum as a method to extract foreign assistance, but then has not spent the funds on Halabjah. ¶3. (U) Angry over the lack of municipal services such as paved roads, a group of students planned a demonstration to counter this year's commemorations of the 1988 attack. Protests were to include blocking Kurdish officials and foreign delegations (Japanese and Italian) from coming. Organizers publicized the intended protest through graffiti. Authorities had already closed schools and shops for the commemorations, giving protestors the opportunity to take to the streets. Knowing the protestors were coming, the government amassed a large force of security personnel at the commemoration. Media reports say protestors burned tires to block the town's main road. ¶4. (SBU) After security forces fired over the heads of the crowd, the protestors attacked the museum. The freelance interpreter told RC(A) March 18 that most protestors were secondary and college students. The government says one boy (usually reported as 17 years old) was shot and killed by the security forces during the attack on the museum; the government says four others were injured. While the monument looks largely intact from a distance, the interpreter said fire and rioting had completely gutted the museum inside. OFFICIAL REACTION: ARRESTS AND BLAME -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Authorities held a press conference the same day (March 16) where acting KRG-Sulaymaniyah Prime Minister Emad Ahmad (PUK) blamed "outsiders" and Islamic militants for the violence. He promised that the KRG would "try to address any defects and corruption that exist within the administration." He and representatives from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Kurdistan Islamic Union, Kurdistan Islamic Group, and Kurdistan Communist Party issued a joint statement condemning the attack. They recommended setting up a commission from the parties "to calm the situation" and a commission of the government, parties and prominent persons to implement "the legitimate demands" of the residents. This has not stopped the KRG-Sulaymaniyah (read the PUK) from blaming Islamic parties. On March 23, speaking with Hawlati newspaper, the KRG-S's representative to Halabjah publicly accused the KIU and Kurdistan Democratic Solutions KIRKUK 00000069 002.2 OF 003 Party (allied with the PKK) with fomenting the March 16 protest; both parties denied the charge. ¶6. (C) The interpreter and security officials said the police arrested 8-10 students during the protests; the interpreter said the police had already released one by March 18. The interpreter (protect) said that the Asayish (Kurdish internal security forces) were torturing the students in hopes of getting them to confess that Islamic radicals had caused the protest. (We cannot verify this claim.) ¶7. (C) Crackdown. The interpreter (protect) says PUK Asayish and Peshmerga blanketed the town after the attack on the museum. He said that the Halabjah market was largely empty on March 18; most people stayed home, particularly students. One car was shot when it -- our source says mistakenly -- failed to stop at a new checkpoint. The passengers, a 57-year-old man and 4-year-old boy, were injured and taken to the hospital. Our source says the Asayish came to the hospital and tried to take the man away, but the hospital refused, saying he needed further medical attention. The mayor told REO on March 23 that the security situation was now under control. Hawlati newspaper reported March 23 that, in the wake of the sweep, KRG officials still were holding 40 people in connection with the protests. ¶8. (C) Media Protest. "Hawlati," the region's only major independent newspaper, called March 18 for the two major Kurdish parties (the PUK and KDP) to give up power. The paper has long skirmished with authorities (see reftel),and the head of security forces in Kou Senjaq confirmed to REO on March 19 that they arrested the paper's local correspondent and writer of the article, Hawez Hawezi, for defamation of the PUK KRG administration. (KurdishMedia.com reported on March 18 that KRG-Sulaymaniyah PM Omar Fattah ordered the arrest.) The head of Kou Senjaq security told REO March 19 they released Hawezi March 19, though the security chief said they could again take Hawezi into custody if their investigation demanded it. ¶9. (C) The Empire Strikes Back. An embassy source said the PUK and the KDP bussed in supporters for a counter-protest March 20 to condemn the March 16 attack on the museum. (We have not gotten any information on the size of the counter-protest.) The Sulaymaniyah branch of the PUK-backed "Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union" publicly condemned the March 16 protest on March 21, according to the Kurdistan Newe paper. PORTENT OF LARGER DISSATISFACTION -------------- ¶10. (C) The interpreter, a secular, recent college graduate who is no fan of the PUK, said that the protests were sparked by local discontent with the Kurdish parties, not by Islamic radicals or foreigners. He points to recent clashes with students in two other cities in Sulaymaniyah province: Kou Senjaq (septel) and Kalar. He argues that the major Kurdish parties, though, want to pin the disruptions on the Islamic parties so as to avoid responsibility themselves and squeeze the Islamists. COMMENT -------------- ¶11. (C) Halabjah is not identical to the rest of Sulaymaniyah. Halabjah is near the Iranian border and some consider it more religious and more pro-Iranian than other places in the Kurdish region. (Indeed, it was this reputation that led Saddam to brutally attack its helpless residents with chemical weapons.) Anti-PUK feelings thus may have an easier time surfacing there. ¶12. (C) That said, the public across the region is fed up with corruption and rightly blames the PUK and KDP. Their heavy-handed control over two rival sets of media, economies and regional governments have led to anger and frustration that seek outlet in protest. PUK (and KDP) leaders have confessed that corruption is a major problem for them, but seem to lack either the skill or the will to deal with it. The fact that the protestors attacked a museum also underscores that the populace is beginning to tire of the two parties' demands that their past defense of the Kurds requires present-day obeisance. Citizens instead want services now for continued political support. In some ways, the parties are victims of their own success. Now that the public no longer feels Kurds must depend on the two parties for day-to-day survival, voters are beginning to feel they have a wider range of political options. ¶13. (C) We do not know how much Islamists (either Iraqi or foreign) played a role in the Halabjah disturbances. In KIRKUK 00000069 003.2 OF 003 general, the Kurdistan Islamic Union and harder-line Kurdistan Islamic Group have played a skillful game, putting forward smooth-talking candidates and focusing on public services and anti-corruption, rather than religion. The KDP joined with the PUK in condemning the violence, but -- without mentioning the PUK -- the KDP has not been above publishing articles in its Payamner news agency pointing out that a lack of public services was partly to blame. ¶14. (C) We have seen no signs that this week's events will spur reform of the KDP. It could affect the internal PUK debate over whether to appeal to the party's past accomplishments or its future promises. The PUK's knee-jerk arrest of the Hawlati writer, though, bespeaks a system still too used to repressing rather than responding to dissent. ORESTE