CREATION OF SUPREME POLITICAL COUNCIL OF KURDISTAN

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 001244 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM TU IZ SUBJECT: CREATION OF SUPREME POLITICAL COUNCIL OF KURDISTAN This is a Kurdistan Regional Reconstruction Team (RRT) cable. ¶1. (SBU) Recent Kurdish media reports have announced the creation of the "Supreme Political Council of Kurdistan," under the auspices of KRG President Massoud Barzani and including representatives of a wide range of KRG political parties and ethnic groups. These media reports, however, contained no details about the purpose of the Council or how it would operate. ¶2. (SBU) In a meeting with KRG Minister and Director of Foreign Affairs Falah Mustafa Bakir on April 5, IPAO inquired about the purpose and membership of the Council. Falah said that the Council would be made up of the "Number One" leader from each of the KRG political and ethnic groups. He said that the Council is expected to have about 20 members, and is still in the process of formation - it has not met yet. According to Falah, one reason that it has not done so is that the Turkomans and Chaldeans have still not picked their representatives. Because five of six small parties represent each of these ethnic groups, they are only being allowed two representatives each, and they must agree among themselves who to select. ¶3. (SBU) The idea behind the Council is, said Falah, "to have more than two parties running everything." As currently conceived, the Council will have both an advisory and a decision making role and will allow input from groups across the KRG political spectrum. Falah did not indicate when the Council is expected to become operational. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: It seems likely that the Council has at least in part been created to help assuage the fears of Turkoman and other ethnic minorities outside the KRG that they will not have a voice in the KRG government if their province or district joins the KRG under the Article 140 process. In any event, we doubt that the two dominant KRG parties, the KDP and PUK, will cede real power to the Council.