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