OPPOSITION TO KURDISH CONSTITUTION RISING AMONG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001800 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/05/2019 TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ SUBJECT: OPPOSITION TO KURDISH CONSTITUTION RISING AMONG ARABS AND TURKMEN REF: A. BAGHDAD 1799 ¶B. BAGHDAD 1702 Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Peter Vrooman for reason 1.4 (b). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Opposition to the recently-passed Kurdistan Region Constitution is quickly growing among Arabs and Turkmen. Sunni and Shi'a Arab parliamentarians and political leaders have expressed concern privately to poloffs about the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) land claims in the document, contradictions between the Kurdish and Iraqi Constitutions, and the damage the document could do to Arab-Kurd relations. Nationalist Sunni and Shi'a Arab politicians have denounced the Kurdistan Region Constitution in the media. The Arab and Turkman political blocs in the Kirkuk Provincial Council (PC) have released separate statements rejecting the Constitution as separatist, and calling on the Government of Iraq (GOI) to intervene. END SUMMARY. OPPOSITION IN BAGHDAD -------------- ¶2. (U) Arab leaders in Baghdad have complained about the Kurdistan Region Constitution publicly and privately. Nationalist Sunni Arab Council of Representatives (COR) member Usama Al Najaifi told Iraqi press that by "cutting off" disputed districts from Ninewa province and identifying them as part of the Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Region Constitution was "challenging . . . the entire Iraqi people." He described the constitution as a "new bomb" exploded by the Kurds. Da'wa COR bloc leader Ali Al Adeeb told Radio Sawa that the document was "invalid" and "prejudges the resolution of the disputed areas." Wael Abdul Latif, a Shi'a Arab affiliated with the Iraqi National List coalition who favors a federal region for Basra and other provinces in southern Iraq, also publicly called the Kurdistan Region Constitution a "time bomb." ¶3. (C) Arabs from parties that have allied with the Kurdistan Coalition, including ISCI/Badr COR member Humam Hammoudi, Haitham Al Husseini (Chief of Staff to ISCI leader Abd Al Azziz Al Hakim),Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leader Osama Tikriti, and others have registered worries about the Kurdistan Constitution with poloffs. Al Husseini noted on June 30th that ISCI shared USG's concerns that the Constitution could increase political tensions. Tikriti called the Constitution an "unhelpful document." In general, IIP and ISCI interlocutors all thought the document was a campaign tactic for the upcoming KRG regional elections. ¶4. (C) Tikriti noted that IIP had already talked to Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and opposition Kurdish Change List leader Nawshirwan Mustafa; Tikriti told poloff that both told IIP they thought the document would inflame Arab-Kurd tensions. Tikriti also informed poloff that IIP was sending a delegation to other Kurdish leaders, including KRG President Masoud Barzani, to express IIP concerns about the Constitution (NOTE: The IIP delegation has not been able to travel north this week due to poor weather conditions. END NOTE). ISCI officials told us last week that they too would speak with their Kurdish colleagues to explain their reservations and discern the Kurds' motivation behind pushing the Constitution now. ¶5. (C) In private conversations with poloffs, Sadiq Rikabi, adviser to PM Maliki, thought the Constitution's incorporation of Kirkuk within the KRG "kills the UN's (disputed territories negotiation) process." Da'wa COR bloc leader Ali Al Adeeb was more forceful. He alleged that timing the passage of the Kurdistan Constitution right at the time when U.S. forces were withdrawing from Iraqi cities was Qtime when U.S. forces were withdrawing from Iraqi cities was designed to embarrass Maliki and the GOI. He went further, asking poloff to convey to the USG his belief that the Kurds wouldn't have done this if they didn't have prior tacit approval from Turkey, Syria, Iran and the U.S. Da'wa COR member and spokesman Haidar Al Abadi told poloffs July 1 that the Kurdistan Constitution is just one example of how ethnic tensions and overreach could spark instability in Iraq. OPPOSITION IN KIRKUK -------------- ¶6. (U) The Arab and Turkman blocs in the Kirkuk PC released strident "declarations" regarding the Kurdish constitution. Both "rejected" the document, primarily because of the Constitution's Article 2 claim that Kirkuk is part of Kurdistan. Both read the Constitution as an unwanted and illegal intrusion into Kirkuk's affairs, and both called for the GOI to intervene and stop the Constitution. The Turkman declaration referred to the document as a manifestation of BAGHDAD 00001800 002 OF 002 the Kurds "separatist" tendencies. The Arab declaration charged that the document would make it difficult to find solutions to the Disputed Internal Boundaries (DIBs) issue. COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) The Arab parliamentarians who hail from parties that have aligned with the Kurdish parties in the COR could clearly prefer that the USG pressure the Kurds on their problematic Constitution, but have underscored that Iraqi diplomacy--particularly from parties that the Kurds trust--may be most effective. END COMMENT. HILL