RRT ERBIL: MINORITY POLITICS AHEAD OF THE KRG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001965 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2019 TAGS: IZ KDEM PGOV SUBJECT: RRT ERBIL: MINORITY POLITICS AHEAD OF THE KRG ELECTIONS REF: A. BAGHDAD 1288 ¶B. BAGHDAD 1785 Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Steve Walker for reason 1.4 ( d). -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Small ethnic and religious groups in the Kurdistan Region are struggling to decide whether special seat allocations in the Iraqi-Kurdistan Parliament (IKP) will be preferable to token inclusion within the alliance of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),as occurred in 2005 for some minorities. Still others question whether relinquishing their minority group identification in favor of joining the KDP or PUK is the best means to increase their political power. End Summary. -------------- How Will Minority Quotas Affect the IKP Race? -------------- ¶2. (U) The revised electoral law of the Kurdistan Region designates seats in the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament (IKP) to certain minority communities (one for Armenians, five for other Christians and five for Turkomen) but not to others, such as Yezidis (Ref A). This allotment of seats has received mixed reviews from the affected communities. RRTOff recently met with representatives of the Christian and Yezidi community to learn about how the quota seats will affect the upcoming IKP elections. ¶3. (C) Father Philippe Khoury, head of the Dohuk Diocese of the Assyrian-Christian Church, believes that having a dedicated number of seats for Christian parties is preferable to being a part of the Kurdistani list. He says that there will be four Christian parties running for the five seats, but that all will have the same goal -) to fight to defend the rights of the Christian community in Kurdistan. According to Father Khoury, there are ultimately two ways to defend the rights of the Christian community: either the community could receive a type of territorial autonomy, or municipalities that are predominantly Christian in composition could have Christian public administration officials, such as mayors and police chiefs. Father Khoury believes that the second option is more pragmatic. (Comment: There is no territory in the KRG where minorities make up a majority of the population, thus making the first option highly implausible. End Comment.) ¶4. (SBU) Father Khoury believes that these five members will be better positioned to advocate for the needs of the community than the current Christian representatives in the IKP. He says that two of the three current representatives who are affiliated with the KDP and PUK must yield to those parties, but under the new format, the members will be able to set the agenda for themselves. But he does not believe the soon-to-be-elected Christian members of the new IKP will carry enough weight to achieve these goals in the coming four years. "Because there are four parties instead of one, they will spend time competing with one another rather than unifying their message. If we are not unified, we will not be successful. A political entity can accomplish more than one person alone." ¶5. (SBU) Taking a different tack, the influential Chaldean Bishop, Raban Al-Qas, Bishop of the Dohuk and Erbil Dioceses of the Chaldean-Christian Church, disagrees with the assumption that a Christian politician will offer better public administration of a Christian municipality than another. He says that the issues that concern the Christian population, particularly those who live in the villages and rural areas of the Kurdistan Region, concern all residents regardless of their religious identity. As such, candidates Qregardless of their religious identity. As such, candidates should be elected based on their qualifications and their effectiveness in meeting the needs of the people, not on their religious or ethnic affiliation alone. He said that many in the Christian community believe the same, and for this reason, many of them will continue to support non-Christian party lists. -------------- The Yezidi Situation -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Pir Khider, head of the Yezidi Lalish Cultural Center and an independent representative to the IKP, is unhappy that Yezidis, who are considered to be ethnically Kurdish, were not given a special seat allocation. Of the three Yezidis currently serving in the IKP, one is affiliated with the KDP, one with the PUK, and one is independent; the Yezidis do not have a separate political party. For the BAGHDAD 00001965 002 OF 002 coming IKP contest, there are only two Yezidi candidates on the KDP-PUK Kurdistani list, and only one of them -- the son of Meer Tahsin Beg, High Prince of the Worldwide Yezidi Community -- has a number on the party list that is high enough to guarantee inclusion into the list. This matter is related to a sensitive debate in the Yezidi community: who is their official representative? According to Khider, Prince Tahsin Beg can care for the Yezidis' religious needs, but the Prince does not speak for all Yezidis. He is worried that people will think that if the Prince agrees on something then all Yezidis agree; Khider says this is not the case. ¶7. (C) Khider and the intellectual community of Yezidis -- of which he believes he is the leader -- are considering forming their own political party in order to end the perceived marginalization of the Yezidis under the Kurdistani list. In Khider's view, the Yezidis have their cultural rights, but they do not have political rights. He said that the PUK-KDP coalition is shrinking the Yezidis, and that they have allotted them just one seat, "as if it were a donation." According to Khider, the Yezidis want to be able to have a mayor that leads all of the administrative areas that are predominantly Yezidi; more than one Yezidi Director General; and "a real Yezidi minister in the KRG; not just a Minister of the Region who does nothing." (Note: Khider refers to the token "Minister of the Region" positions that the KDP/PUK have granted to each opposition political party and/or minority group. End Note.) Khider added that the Yezidis do not want to go the way of religious group-based parties, but it seems that the PUK-KDP coalition are pushing them in that direction. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) The planned minority seat allocation in the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament represents the KRG's attempt to recognize the special rights of the religious minorities in the region. But a carve-out that limits the number of seats dedicated to each community seems to have resulted in a squabble over who has the right to speak for the minority community. This becomes a major problem when the minority communities are already rife with internal divisions. Ultimately, a move that appears to give the communities a stronger platform from which to advocate for their needs may actually agitate these underlying divisions. Then again, this process may push minorities to develop unified internal positions, consensus leaders, and a common agenda with other minorities, which would be a healthy development in the long run. FORD