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Bombings expose Khanaqin tensions
23.11.2005
By Wirya Hama Tahir in Khanaqin (ICR No. 153,
23-Nov-05)
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Kurdish and Arab residents increasingly at odds over
former’s demand for town’s reincorporation into
Kurdistan.
For Mohammed Izadin, no sacrifice is too much to ask
for Khanaqin. The Arabs have oppressed Kurds for 80
years, he said, and continue to do so by keeping
this small, predominantly-Kurdish town as part of
Diyala, a majority Arab province in Iraq. "We want
to reincorporate our town into the Kurdistan
region," he said. "We will struggle for this until
we die." At midday Friday prayers last week, two
suicide bombers simultaneously blew themselves up as
Shia worshippers gathered in the town's Sheikh Murad
and Khanaqin Grand Mosques. The blasts killed 86
people and injured 45, according to major Abdullah
Hussein, deputy chief of Khanaqin police. No one has
taken responsibility for the attacks.
In the days after the attack, the small restive town
on the border between the semi-autonomous Kurdish
region and the mainly Arab province of Diyala was
filled with funeral tents. Families spared by the
attack were busy paying condolence visits to dozens
of neighbours and friends who lost family members in
the deadly attack. The bloody event may further
foment tensions between Khanaqin's Kurdish residents
and those who oppose reincorporating the town into
the Kurdish region.
Khanaqin is located 55 kilometres northeast of
Baghdad near the Iranian border. The county has
population of about 140,000, 96 per cent of which is
Kurdish. Three per cent is Arab and one per cent
Turkmen. Nevertheless, it is under the
administration of the mainly Arab province of Diyala.
Three of the five districts have been under Kurdish
rule since Kurds gained autonomy over most Kurdish
territories in 1991. The main part of the town,
however, remained until April 2003 under the rule of
Saddam Hussein, who sought to Arabise it.
He settled Arabs in Khanaqin, an oil-rich, hilly
area dotted with Iraq's famous date trees, as part
of a larger campaign in the 1980s to limit Kurdish
control over areas they inhabit. The regime also
moved many Shia Arabs to these territories to create
tensions and gain tighter control over southern
Iraq, a majority Shia area.
Kurdish families were deported to central sections
of the county - many resettled in Arab provinces
like Anbar. When it was incorporated into Diyala
province, nearly all traces of Kurdish culture
became extinct. Date trees still surround the town
today, although Saddam’s forces razed many
plantations so that Kurdish Peshmarga forces who
fought against Arabisation could not hide there.
Ruins of many Kurdish villages destroyed by Saddam’s
troops can still be seen around the town. Shortly
after the fall of Saddam, Kurdish forces tried to
turn back the clock. Many Arabs who were settled in
Khanaqin under the former regime were expelled by
force.
After the bombings, the distrust between the
different ethnic groups has grown stronger. Arab day
labourers were arrested and taken into custody. Some
later reported that they were beaten by police.
Although officials have yet to say who they believe
was behind the bombings, there’s speculation that
they were the work of Arabs angry with Khanaqin's
efforts to remove Arab settlers and reincorporate
the town into Kurdistan. "They cannot stop the
democratic cause," said Dilshad Abdullah, a
23-year-old journalist who was forced to leave
Khanaqin in 1998.
In the last three years, an increasing number of
displaced citizens from Khanaqin have returned to
their hometown. Many had not seen their birthplace
for more than 20 years. Jasim Ali, 29, an Arab
resident, told IWPR, "The Kurds are right; we are
not native Arabs (of the town). The Arab settlers
were very bad. They wanted to spoil the historic
relations between us and the Kurds. It is true that
Khanaqin is part of Kurdistan." He also said that
their living conditions improved, "Now people are
free. No one is hurt. Everyone is busy with earning
their living if the Diyala governor leaves us
alone." The small Arab population is divided on two
fronts. The native Arabs of the town generally
support the reincorporation of the town into the
Kurdish region. But those who settled by the former
regime strongly oppose such a move and do not want
to be kicked out of the town.
Kazim Mohammed, 50, acknowledged that Arabs settled
Kurdish lands under Saddam but said it was unfair to
uproot them now, “ I have been here for 20 years,
and my future is dependent on this town. After all
this, where should I go?!" Officials maintained that
while Khanaqin is technically part of Diyala, it’s
primarily supported by the Kurdistan regional
government which pays the salaries of civil servants
and takes charge of reconstruction projects. Kurdish
support poured in following the bombings. Hussein
said victims were sent for treatment in the Kurdish
cities of Kelar and Sulaimaniyah. The prime minister
of the Kurdish regional government Omar Fatah said
it will rebuild the two mosques and promised
financial support for victims' families.
Diyala governor Raed Rashid al-Mula Jwad visited the
town after the attack but did not offer any help,
said Hussein.
Arab officials do not have a connection to Khanaqin
"and that's why they do not serve it", said Mohammed
Amin Hassan, the town's district commissioner. He
said Diyala wants to maintain control of Khanaqin
for its oil but is unwilling to invest in the town.
Although he works in a government office, Hassan
refuses to fly the Iraqi flag because he cannot fly
the flag of Kurdistan. He and others pushing for
Khanaqin to become part of Iraqi Kurdistan have
taken their case to the now-dissolved Iraqi
Governing Council and political leaders including
Iraq president Jalal Talabani, leader of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Iraqi authorities responded that the future of the
town should be decided in accordance with laws
addressing disputed Kurdish territories such as
Kirkuk. The government promised to move settlers out
of disputed territories and compensate both settlers
and displaced Iraqis but has not addressed the
problems yet.
The main Kurdish political parties, the PUK and
Kurdistan Democratic Party, support the movement to
make Khanaqin part of semiautonomous Kurdistan.
"Khanaqin and its people are an undivided part of
Kurdistan," said Muhsin Ali Akbar, head of the PUK
in Khanaqin. "We will continue our struggle and will
not accept any decision made against the people of
Khanaqin."
Wirya Hama Tahir an IWPR trainee journalist in
Khanaqin.
www.iwpr.net
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