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City’s ethnic and religious
groups are warning of creeping sectarianism.
Marwa As’ad, a Turkoman resident of Kirkuk, is
heartbroken. She had been planning to marry a local
Kurdish man but her family broke off the engagement
after her brother was carjacked by a Kurd.
She believes rising tensions among different ethnic
and religious groups in Kirkuk contributed to her
break-up. Like many others interviewed in this
ethnically and religiously diverse city, As’ad said
the atmosphere has deteriorated since Saddam
Hussein's regime was overthrown in April 2003.
The province of Kirkuk - home to about a million
Turkoman, Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Armenians
- is sometimes referred to as a little Iraq or as
Iraq's melting pot, but some believe the area, in
particular the city of Kirkuk, is a powder keg
waiting to explode.
The situation has worsened since Iraq changed from a
one-party dictatorship under Saddam's Ba'athist
regime, maintain local leaders and residents.
Political parties in Kirkuk, most of which represent
ethnic or religious groups, are battling for control
of the city and its surroundings.
While there are no reliable statistics on the ethnic
and religious make-up of the province, Kurds are
believed to be the largest ethnic group. Indeed,
Kurdish slates won five of Kirkuk's nine
parliamentary seats in the December elections, and
they hold the most seats on the provincial council.
Saddam had tried to reduce the Kurdish majority in
the area by moving significant numbers out of Kirkuk
city and replacing them with mainly poor Arabs from
the south.
But now Kurds are fighting to bring Kirkuk city back
under Kurdish political control. The move isn't
popular among its other communities who effectively
control certain neighbourhoods, which are adorned
with often-confrontational flags and banners.
"You see many provocative slogans such as 'Long live
Turkoman;
'Long live Mam Jalal' (a reference to Iraqi
president and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani); or 'Kirkuk
is an integral part of Kurdistan'," said Omar
Muhammad, a 29-year-old Arab resident.
Muhammad said the problem grew worse during
parliamentary elections, and that political parties
have fuelled sectarianism.
On January 29, several car bombs went off near
churches in Kirkuk, killing one person.
Silvana Buya Nassir, a Chaeldan Assyrian, said
Christians were concerned about safety prior to the
bombings.
"We used to hold evening ceremonies to pay tribute
to Christ, but because of the deteriorating security
situation and violence against our group, we have to
do it during the day," she said.
"The tension has forced many families to emigrate
and seek asylum in European countries to escape this
terrible situation."
Ali Mahdi, vice president of Turkoman Iliy party,
accused Kurdish parties of fomenting division by
working only for their own interests and demanding
the city return to Kurdish control.
"They are following the same path as the Ba'ath
regime to create hatred and differences among
Kirkuk's people to the extent that it has affected
daily relations between people," he said. "They are
responsible for planting the seeds of segregation in
Kirkuk."
But Kurds themselves are also falling victim to the
growing tensions.
Waleed Ali, a 30-year-old Kurd from Hawija in
southern Kirkuk province, moved to Kirkuk city's
suburbs after several Kurds were killed by Arab
militants, although local Arab tribesmen insisted
the killers had no connection with their community.
"I lived in Hawija for 30 years, but after the fall
of regime their views towards us changed. They
accused the Kurds of helping the Americans to topple
Saddam," said Ali.
Just as Kurds are blamed for helping the Americans,
some in Kirkuk now equate Arabs with Ba'athists.
"They hold us accountable for what Saddam and his
regime did, as if all Arab people participated in
those acts," said Sami al-Ne'mi, a 32-year-old Arab.
Kurdish leaders in the area insist that they are not
behind the tensions. "We don't differentiate between
ethnic groups," said Nasreen Khalid, a Kurdish
member of Kirkuk provisional council. "We work for
the interests of all of Kirkuk's people."
Khalid insisted that bonds between groups are much
stronger than they were in the past. "Contrary to
claims by some factions and satellite channels that
civil war will break out in Kirkuk, coexistence is
strong here," she said.
But local observers are not so sanguine. “There is
no peaceful coexistence among ethnic groups as is
claimed by politicians and the media," said Muhammed
al-Jabar, a sociologist." As different governments
have come to power (after Saddam's regime) and
different policies have been laid down, mistrust has
been created among the different groups and tensions
are rising."
"The policies of the political parties and
sectarianism have infiltrated everything," said
As'ad. "It even affects family relationships, like
what happened to me. We hoped for so many years for
democracy and freedom to come to us, and this is the
price we are now paying."
Samah Samad is an IWPR journalist trainee in
Kirkuk.
www.iwpr.net
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