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Iraq's Kurds want one thing in particular from this
month's election and the political horse-trading to
follow: oil-rich Kirkuk.
Kurdish politicians insist that justice demands that
the city, lying just outside the Kurdish autonomous
zone in the country's north, is theirs.
For decades Saddam Hussein's forces pursued a brutal
policy of Arabisation in Kirkuk, driving out Kurdish
families to replace them with Arab settlers.
The problem is that the Kurds share the city with
substantial Arab and Turcoman communities who have
staked their own claims to the territory. In the
run-up to the election on Jan 30 the various ethnic
groups have agreed a truce, proof of the ballot
box's impact on Iraq.
Until the weekend, Kurdish politicians threatened to
boycott the poll, arguing that unless Kurds could
return to their homes, the election would only
legitimise Saddam's ethnic cleansing.
The communities' rival demands have provoked
violence and the outcome of the tension is likely to
determine Iraq's future as a multi-ethnic state.
Many fear that the election's only result will be
more stalemate and more of the conflict which has
claimed dozens of lives.
The city has the feel of an armed camp, with
election slogans marking the divide between Kurdish,
Arab and Turcoman communities.
Mohammed Ahmed, the head of the Kurdish Democratic
Party, one of two main Kurdish groups, said: "We've
decided to take part in the elections. No one wants
war. We just want what is ours."
Belligerent comments by politicians such as Mr Ahmed
reveal the mix of confidence and frustration felt by
many Kurds and the reversal of roles that has meant
that, to many people, they have become the
aggressors.
At the heart of Kirkuk's troubles is the dilemma of
how to deal with the legacy of Saddam's rule. Over
three decades he tried to make Kirkuk an Arab
stronghold in the Kurdish north, authorising the
eviction of an estimated 200,000 Kurds from the city
and the destruction of dozens of villages. He filled
their places with Shias from the south and Ba'athist
officers. Kurds now want their property back and the
Arab settlers to leave.
The Kurds accuse the Iraqi government of
deliberately stalling at America's behest.
American officials, mindful that Kurdish control of
the city could be the first step towards an
independent Kurdistan, say the legal process must be
observed and will take a long time.
In the meantime, Kurdish politicians encourage Kurds
to return and 100,000 have done so, many now living
in abject poverty in refugee camps on the city's
outskirts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
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