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).

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Summary
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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.

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How Will Minority Quotas Affect the IKP Race?
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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.

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The Yezidi Situation
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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.

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Comment
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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