IRAQI KURDISTAN VICE-PRESIDENT ON KIRKUK AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001038 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM IZ SUBJECT: IRAQI KURDISTAN VICE-PRESIDENT ON KIRKUK AND PROSPECTS OF ARTICLE 140 IMPLEMENTATION Classified By: Regional Coordinator James Yellin for reasons reasons 1. 4 (b) and (d). This is an Erbil Regional Reconstruction Team (RRT) Cable. ¶1. (C) On March 13, Regional Coordinator and RRT Off met with Kosrat Rasoul at his highly secured hilltop residence in Sulaimaniyah. Rasoul is Vice-President of the Kurdistan Region and one of the highest ranking Politburo members in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party. In response to our questions, Rasoul said that he believed the referendum on Kirkuk would not be held as scheduled by the end of 2007. He explained that the delay would be the result of a political deal made among the political parties in Baghdad. (Note: Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution stipulates a referendum must be held in 2007 on the status of so-called "disputed territories," including Kirkuk, which the Kurds insist should be part of the Kurdistan Region.) Once this is carried out, he continued, Kirkuk will be part of Iraqi Kurdistan and this will be a favorable outcome for the United States. ¶2. COMMENT (C) Kosrat Rasoul is another example of Iraqi Kurdish political leaders who acknowledge privately a possible delay in carrying out the provisions of article 140 (septel). No Kurdish political leader has said so publicly, however, in part probably for fear of causing social unrest. KHALILZAD