Resolving Kirkuk’s Status Merits Immediate Attention By Bush Administration
Rauf Naqishbendi
July 16, 2007
The political and social upheaval in Iraq is worsening as time goes by. Insurgencies and the accompanying sectarian violence have torn the country apart. As far as Iraq policy is concerned, it’s not what has been done wrong that is the issue but what has not been done right.
The question of Kirkuk, an oil-rich Kurdish city, is a singularly pivotal and problematic issue that requires immediate attention if tragedy is to be avoided. Its importance can be seen in the eyes of the Kurds, who earnestly consider this city theirs and the economic backbone of their future statehood. Its problematic nature takes root in the fact that it could become an intense point of contention and confrontation between Iraqi Arabs and Kurds. Should that happen, another layer, a bloody ethnic clash, will be added to the existing sectarian and insurgent clashes. This new dimension and its outcome would prove to be ominous for the Iraqi people, and most difficult to deal with.
The Kurds’ claim on Kirkuk is legitimate and needs to be reckoned with. Kirkuk’s population historically has been predominantly Kurdish, with Arab and Turkmen minorities. Notably, this historic landmark was altered as Saddam, in his attempt to change the city’s demographics, settled hundreds of thousands of Arabs there. To accommodate housing and businesses for the Arab newcomers, Saddam relocated hundreds of thousands of Kurds to the south, confiscating their businesses and properties and bestowing them to the Arabs. This impropriety was committed under Saddam, and yet the United States backed government remains aloof while the deprived Kurds are pleading for a speedy, just remedy for the situation.
The disheartening tragedies dislocated Kurds from Kirkuk experienced during the three decades of Saddam’s regime will be told for generations: first, they were deprived of their properties and businesses they worked so hard to attain; second, they were placed in the Arabian desert where most ended up homeless, harassed, and discriminated against; and third, their situation became so dismal as malnutrition and the lack of health care and housing got to be intolerable that many could not survive. They perished in a strange land amongst people indifferent to their suffering, subject to a godless government that committed every evil and inhumane action against these innocent people.
The dislocated Kurds who survived after the Iraqi liberation came back to Kirkuk to claim their confiscated properties and live in their native city. They came back only to witness the miscarriage of justice as the Iraqi government, under the occupation of America still maintains Saddam’s status quo. Their pleas that the properties they lost be restored to their rightful owners remain unanswered. They have been left homeless in unsheltered areas without running water, electricity or adequate sanitation, and have been housed in the open where they can easily be harassed and attacked by insurgents and radical Arabs. Thus the natives are left in misery as refugees in their own city, while Saddam’s thugs still reign in their homes and businesses.
Recently Kirkuk has been the scene of staggering terrorist activities aimed at the predominantly Kurdish police force and Kurdish civilians. None of these terrorist actions would have been possible without Saddam’s old followers; they support the terrorists and help them blend in. These fellow Arabs brought to the city by Saddam fear justice, and to avoid losing what they were awarded by the old regime, they are willing to commit any crime, destroy anything, and kill anyone to maintain their illicit privileges. Appallingly, the American administration has been cognizant of these human abuses and suffering, and yet has not set in motion a right course of action to remedy what has gone wrong.
Given Kirkuk’s petroleum resources, which make up the majority of Iraq’s petroleum exports, it is appropriate to secure this region. One way to accomplish this is by cleaning out Saddam’s residue and restoring properties and businesses to their rightful owners. Meanwhile, for the sake of justice and humaneness, these people should be resettled in their respective native regions with assistance from the Iraqi government. If that were to happen, there would then be no one claim in particular on Kirkuk as Turkmen, Kurds and Christians would be willing to cohabitate this ancient city. This would resolve the question of Kirkuk’s status, restoring justice and the Kurdish population to its place as the native majority.
The clashing forces of the sensitive Kurds with their commitment to the heartland city of their homeland, Kirkuk, provocative Moslem fundamentalists, and fanatic Arab nationalists should merit the immediate attention of the American administration. Should America not react in a timely fashion, the implosion of this danger will result in a precarious crisis and its cloud will be the darkest that has ever lingered on the sky of Mesopotamia.
The question of Kirkuk, an oil-rich Kurdish city, is a singularly pivotal and problematic issue that requires immediate attention if tragedy is to be avoided. Its importance can be seen in the eyes of the Kurds, who earnestly consider this city theirs and the economic backbone of their future statehood. Its problematic nature takes root in the fact that it could become an intense point of contention and confrontation between Iraqi Arabs and Kurds. Should that happen, another layer, a bloody ethnic clash, will be added to the existing sectarian and insurgent clashes. This new dimension and its outcome would prove to be ominous for the Iraqi people, and most difficult to deal with.
The Kurds’ claim on Kirkuk is legitimate and needs to be reckoned with. Kirkuk’s population historically has been predominantly Kurdish, with Arab and Turkmen minorities. Notably, this historic landmark was altered as Saddam, in his attempt to change the city’s demographics, settled hundreds of thousands of Arabs there. To accommodate housing and businesses for the Arab newcomers, Saddam relocated hundreds of thousands of Kurds to the south, confiscating their businesses and properties and bestowing them to the Arabs. This impropriety was committed under Saddam, and yet the United States backed government remains aloof while the deprived Kurds are pleading for a speedy, just remedy for the situation.
The disheartening tragedies dislocated Kurds from Kirkuk experienced during the three decades of Saddam’s regime will be told for generations: first, they were deprived of their properties and businesses they worked so hard to attain; second, they were placed in the Arabian desert where most ended up homeless, harassed, and discriminated against; and third, their situation became so dismal as malnutrition and the lack of health care and housing got to be intolerable that many could not survive. They perished in a strange land amongst people indifferent to their suffering, subject to a godless government that committed every evil and inhumane action against these innocent people.
The dislocated Kurds who survived after the Iraqi liberation came back to Kirkuk to claim their confiscated properties and live in their native city. They came back only to witness the miscarriage of justice as the Iraqi government, under the occupation of America still maintains Saddam’s status quo. Their pleas that the properties they lost be restored to their rightful owners remain unanswered. They have been left homeless in unsheltered areas without running water, electricity or adequate sanitation, and have been housed in the open where they can easily be harassed and attacked by insurgents and radical Arabs. Thus the natives are left in misery as refugees in their own city, while Saddam’s thugs still reign in their homes and businesses.
Recently Kirkuk has been the scene of staggering terrorist activities aimed at the predominantly Kurdish police force and Kurdish civilians. None of these terrorist actions would have been possible without Saddam’s old followers; they support the terrorists and help them blend in. These fellow Arabs brought to the city by Saddam fear justice, and to avoid losing what they were awarded by the old regime, they are willing to commit any crime, destroy anything, and kill anyone to maintain their illicit privileges. Appallingly, the American administration has been cognizant of these human abuses and suffering, and yet has not set in motion a right course of action to remedy what has gone wrong.
Given Kirkuk’s petroleum resources, which make up the majority of Iraq’s petroleum exports, it is appropriate to secure this region. One way to accomplish this is by cleaning out Saddam’s residue and restoring properties and businesses to their rightful owners. Meanwhile, for the sake of justice and humaneness, these people should be resettled in their respective native regions with assistance from the Iraqi government. If that were to happen, there would then be no one claim in particular on Kirkuk as Turkmen, Kurds and Christians would be willing to cohabitate this ancient city. This would resolve the question of Kirkuk’s status, restoring justice and the Kurdish population to its place as the native majority.
The clashing forces of the sensitive Kurds with their commitment to the heartland city of their homeland, Kirkuk, provocative Moslem fundamentalists, and fanatic Arab nationalists should merit the immediate attention of the American administration. Should America not react in a timely fashion, the implosion of this danger will result in a precarious crisis and its cloud will be the darkest that has ever lingered on the sky of Mesopotamia.
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