AMID RISING tensions in northern Iraq, a UN commission has urged Arabs and Kurds to resolve their dispute over oil-rich Tamim province by preserving its unity and sharing power. UN special representative Staffan de Mistura has sent copies of the commission’s partially leaked document to president Jalal Talabani, his deputies, prime minister Nuri al- Maliki, and Kurdish regional president Massoud Barzani.
The report, authored by a 15-member team of diplomats and constitutional experts, consists of separate studies of 14 disputed districts in Nineveh, Salahuddin, and Dyala in addition to Tamim. The Kurds claim all of Tamim and Kirkuk, its capital, as their historical homeland. But local Arab and Turkomen reject this claim, Baghdad refuses to cede control, and Ankara, the self-proclaimed protector of the Turkomen, has threatened to intervene if the Kurds attempt to seize Tamim.
The UN put forward four options for Tamim, all treating the province as a single entity and none giving it to the Kurds. All four “use the constitution of Iraq as the starting point for handling Kirkuk, require a political agreement among the parties and then some form of a confirmatory referendum”, the report says. But the UN makes no specific recommendations “regarding the future administrative jurisdiction of [the 15] areas.” The UN also suggests confidence-building measures for each of the localities.
“We are all-too aware that tensions have recently risen in parts of the disputed areas, and also that there are more issues than just the territorial ones that divide the parties. That is why we have done the work in the way we have, and that is why we are hoping that sustained and serious dialogue will now follow,” Mr de Mistura stated.
International Crisis Group analyst Joost Hiltermann believes the report will be rejected. “I think it presents a brilliant opportunity for compromise, but I’m not convinced either party is ready for that. Both likely think they can win more if they fight.”
The Kurdish leaders have made compromise difficult because they have “been telling their people that Kirkuk is theirs” and they cannot accept less, he says.
The Kurds have long wanted to expand beyond the borders of their three-province autonomous region into areas where the population once was Kurdish. Iraq’s past rulers settled Arabs in these areas and redrew the boundaries of these provinces to ensure Arab majorities. Analysts argue that the Arab-Kurdish problem constitutes the greatest threat to the stability of the country.
