HUMAN RIGHTS/NORTHERN IRAQ: MAYOR FEARS KURDISH DESIGNS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSUL 000040

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/1/2016
TAGS: PREL PINS PINT PGOV PHUM IZ MARR
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS/NORTHERN IRAQ: MAYOR FEARS KURDISH DESIGNS IN
NINEWA

REF: A) MOSUL 28; B) MOSUL 25; C) 2005 MOSUL 190; D) 2005 MOSUL 149

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CLASSIFIED BY: Cameron Munter, PRT Leader, Provincial
Reconstruction Team Ninewa, State.
REASON: 1.4 (a),(b),(d)



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SUMMARY
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1. (C) Mayor Bassem Jejo is frustrated by what he sees as
blatant efforts by the Kurds to usurp his and the Ninewa
provincial government's authority over Telkaif District. He
accuses the Kurds of loading the district council with KDP
members, allowing Peshmerga to operate checkpoints on major
throughways, and establishing Kurdish schools and Asayesh
(Kurdish intelligence) offices. Jejo believes such efforts do
nothing but cause tensions between the Kurds and minorities. He
asked for USG help removing Kurdish flags from public buildings
and protecting the integrity of local governments. End Summary.


2. (SBU) PRT Leader and PolOff met with Telkaif Mayor Bassem
Jejo at the St. Hermizo Monastery in Al Qosh on March 28.

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TENSIONS WITH THE KURDS
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3. (C) Kurdish encroachment has been a recurring theme in
Ninewa, impacting many in different ways. For Telkaif Mayor
Bassem the issue strikes a strident chord. "The KDP," (or
Kurdistan Democratic Party),"keeps interfering with our work,"
he said. They did not understand that the district of Telkaif
(which runs from Ninewa's northern border in Al Qosh near Dohuk
province, to Telkaif city in the south just outside of Mosul)
was not under Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) jurisdiction,
said Jejo.

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SIGNS OF ENCROACHMENT
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4. (C) Jejo said tensions had been building again between the
Kurds and minorities over the past few months. The KDP had set
up Asayesh (Kurdish intelligence) offices throughout the
district, as well as an education directorate and Kurdish
schools. There were now two Asayesh offices in Telkaif city
alone, claimed Jejo, one called the "Intelligence Directorate of
Mosul" (because he said the KDP could not open the office in
Mosul itself) and the "Intelligence Directorate of Telkaif."
Jejo said the KRG education directorate office was setting up
schools, following a KRG curriculum, and only hiring teachers
and administrators from outside the area. They were teaching
Arabic to Christian students, admitted Jejo, but only Kurdish to
the Yezidi [NOTE: A "chicken and egg" identity problem exists
between Yezidis and the Kurds over whether one belongs to the
other. The question has caused major rifts between the Kurds
and Yezidi, especially among the Yezidi in Sinjar (ref a)]. The
teachers were not qualified and were beholden only to the KRG.
Other problems included what Jejo claimed was an increase in
Peshmerga checkpoints. There were two new checkpoints where
Peshmerga were harassing motorists on the roads to Shekhan and
Faydah, he claimed. In Batnaya village in southern Telkaif
district the KDP was building headquarters offices in
residential areas (ref b). Such problems were not helping ease
problems between the Kurds and minorities.


5. (C) Worse still, according to Jejo, was Kurdish interference
in local and district politics. He said the Kurds were
"successful" with separating the mayor from the district council
(ref c). In the past the mayor presided over the council, but
the Kurds worked to install a district president position
instead. Jejo believed the Kurds were working to control local
governments to exert their influence over politics in the
province. Throughout Telkaif district, said Jejo, KDP members
were springing up as either mayors or district presidents.
These "Kurdish controlled" local governments were responsible
for many unlawful acts, such as awarding government-confiscated
property to KDP loyalists and requiring bribes for conducting
security background checks on housing applicants. Money
allegedly allocated to the Christian community during the CPA
was instead funneled through the KRG Ministry of Finance,
claimed Jejo (ref d). As a result, the funds were dispersed as
"political favors," rather than for projects to help benefit the
Christian community. "They even bought generators right before

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the election to buy votes," claimed Jejo. Asayesh, on the other
hand, was arresting and detaining prominent persons in the
community that they believed were "disloyal" to the Kurds, he
said. As a result people were leaving their homes in towns and
cities for smaller villages on the outskirts of the district.
He asked for USG assistance as a last resort to help keep the
Kurds in line, by removing flags from public buildings and
protecting the integrity of local governments.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) Mayor Bassem Jejo is a member of the Assyrian Democratic
Movement (ADM),Iraq's largest Christian political party, which
is fervently anti-Kurd. He raised a valid point about the Kurds
(primarily the KDP): they appear to be overstepping the boundary
separating Iraqi Kurdistan from Ninewa province. Members from
the Shabek, Yezidi, Arab, and even Kurdish communities have
echoed this same sentiment. Rival Christian political parties
agree, as well. It is a common refrain among the non-Kurdish
community: the Kurds, they say, are bent on domination of
eastern Ninewa.
MUNTER