KURDISTAN ISLAMIC UNION (KIU) LEADER DENIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002262

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINR EG IZ
SUBJECT: KURDISTAN ISLAMIC UNION (KIU) LEADER DENIES
ENDORSING CAIRO CONFERENCE OPPOSITION FRONT


Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Robert Gilchrist for Reasons
1.4(d) and (b)


1. (U) This is a Kurdistan Regional Reconstruction Team (RRT)
cable


2. (C) Summary. KIU Secretary General Salahaddin Bahaaddin
told RRTOFFs that Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime
Minister Nechirvan Barzani had approved in advance KIU
attendance at the April meeting in Cairo where Sunni and
Kurdish politicians joined Iraqiyya chief Ayad Allawi in an
attempt to form an opposition front. Bahaaddin also said
that the KIU attendees were taken by surprise by the
adversarial tone of the conference and claimed that while
they signed the so-called &Cairo Declaration,8 they did not
realize it was intended to launch a new opposition movement.
President Talabani attacked the KIU for remaining at the
meeting despite the presence of two former &Jash8 (Kurdish
supporters of Saddam). Bahaaddin said that animosities
between the Kurdish parties and the meeting's organizers were
behind the harsh criticism aimed at the KIU and others.
Bahaaddin claims that the KRG Supreme Council has indicated
it is satisfied with the KIU,s explanations for why they
attended and a &propaganda campaign8 against the KIU has
now ceased. The KIU,s hasty public disavowal of support for
the Cairo actions in the face of KRG criticism, however, may
not sit well with its constituency. End Summary.


3. (C) RRTOFFs met on 20 June with Mr. Salahaddin
Bahaaddin, the Secretary General of the KIU, and KIU
Politburo member Abdul Rahman Saddiq, at the Party,s office
in Erbil. Bahaaddin opened by saying that he wanted to have
better relations between the KIU and the United States,
adding that given its current central role in Iraq, the US
needs to have a &better understanding of the situation8 in
the country.

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Stability in the KRG Requires Stability in Baghdad
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4. (C) Commenting on the April conference in Cairo,
Bahaaddin noted that his party attended the meeting because
"political stability in the Kurdistan region requires
stability in Baghdad" and in the GOI. Ever since liberation,
he said, the political process has been framed by sectarian
division, which is not helping the political process in Iraq.
He described the current imbalance of representation as
helping the terrorists.


5. (C) The Cairo Conference was only the latest of, he
said, &many meetings about Iraq.8 Six countries -- Turkey,
Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia ) sent
official representatives. Iraq, however, was only represented
by political parties: the Tawafuq List, the Iraqi List, the
National Debate, the Iraq Turkoman Front and the KIU. The
two leading coalition partners in the GOI however, the
Kurdish list and the Shia list, were not represented.
Bahaaddin did not know if they were not invited or chose not
to attend.

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PM Barzani Pre-Approved KIU Cairo Attendance
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6. (C) According to Bahaaddin, after KIU leaders received
an invitation to the meeting, they discussed it with KRG PM
Nechirvan Barzani, who approved their attendance. The
problems began, said Bahaaddin, when, upon arrival in Cairo,
the KIU reps found that the other participants &were not in
favor of the democratic process in Iraq.8 Certain Iraqi
attendees, said Bahaaddin, particularly Ayad Allawi and Salah
Al-Mutlaq, claimed the sectarian fighting in Iraq stemmed
from the current composition of the government, which, they
said, gives the Shia too much power over the Sunnis.


7. (C) Bahaaddin said that at the conference Allawi,
al-Mutlaq and others advocated a &radical8 restructuring of
the GOI and the Army. Allawi, he said, wants to stop the
political process and &go back to zero,8 an approach that
Bahaaddin believes is unworkable. He noted that the KIU wants
to &reform the current system,8 not replace it. There were
also some controversial Kurdish attendees at the conference.
According to Bahaaddin, two former &Jash8 (Note: Jash are
ethnic Kurds who supported and/or fought for Saddam Hussein
against their fellow Kurds. End note.) who had come as
representatives of &Union of Northern Iraqis,8 a group
within the Iraqi List. These two individuals were members of
the Harki and Zibari tribes whose enmity to the Barzani clan
pre-dates the Baathist regime. (Note: it is unclear if the
two ex-Jash played a significant role at the conference,
although one of them, Ashod Zebari has since launched a new

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Kurdish political party, the &Party for Freedom and
Justice.8 End note.)

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KIU Surprised by Talabani's Criticism
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8. (C) The KIU delegation returned to Iraq from Cairo on
May 2. Bahaaddin said that when they returned they thought
they &had done a good thing, looking for a solution to the
problems in Iraq needs hundreds of meetings, not just one.8
A few days later, they met with KRG Vice President Kosrat
Rasoul, who, Bahaaddin claimed, did not find any fault with
their attendance but said he wanted to wait until President
Barzani,s return from an overseas trip before discussing the
meeting in detail.


9. (C) On June 4 the contents of the &Cairo Declaration8
became publicly known. GOI President and PUK leader Jalal
Talabani held a press conference denouncing the Cairo
Conference as &dangerous8 because the participants had
formed a &political front,8 according to press reports.
Talabani called for Iraqi Sunni groups that had joined this
front ) especially the KIU ) to withdraw immediately,
threatening that if they did not &we will take procedures
against them.8


10. (C) Bahaaddin denied that the KIU reps had joined any
sort of &front8 at the meeting. He did say, however, that
the KIU had joined in signing a statement of &principles8
along with the other conference participants. (Note:
Bahaaddin has since told us that this document was in fact
the &Cairo Declaration,8 but that that he and the other KIU
reps did not believe the document was intended to launch a
new political movement. End note.) The real reason why KRG
officials were upset with the KIU,s attendance, said
Bahaaddin, was that the two Jash participants &had family
and personal problems with the KDP, the PUK had problems with
Ayad Allawi, and the KDP also had problems with the
participation of the Iraqi Turkoman Front (ITF).8


11. (C) After June 4, said Bahaaddin, there was a
&propaganda campaign8 against the KIU. The KIU responded
with a press conference in which it explained its position
and denied involvement in a &new front.8 It sent copies
of this statement to the KRG presidency and to all the
political parties. According to Bahaaddin, a June 11th
session of the KRG &Supreme Council8 accepted the KIU,s
explanation and the issue, in theory at least, is now
settled.


12. (C) Comment. The KIU,s relations with the PUK and KDP
have been strained ever since the KIU,s independent run in
the January 2005 National Assembly elections. In the case of
the Cairo meeting, the KIU,s representatives may have been
in the wrong place at the wrong time, and became an easy
focal point for Talabani and other KRG officials,
unhappiness over plans to inaugurate a new opposition block
that would give greater prominence to Sunni parties. Still,
their explanation that they signed the &Cairo Declaration8
without fully understanding its purpose seems disingenuous.
Their efforts to disavow their actions ) including a recent
press announcement to that effect ) may not sit well with
their supporters. End comment.
CROCKER