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Kurdistan willing to absorb Iraqi Arab
refugees if they meet criteria
3.4.2007 |
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April 3, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- Tens of
thousands of Iraqi Arabs have fled central Iraq for
the relative peace of Kurdistan region in the north,
creating fresh tensions that are liable to be
exacerbated by a plan to relocate Arabs from the
oil-rich Kurdish city of Kirkuk.
About 1.9 million people have sought refuge inside
Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led liberation, according
to the latest U.N. figures, with many of them
attracted by the relative peace of the Kurdish-run
north. The Iraqi Red Crescent in Erbil has
registered more than 5,000 families -- or
approximately 30,000 people -- as refugees in the
past two years.
The Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
says it has both the capacity and will to absorb
Iraqis of all stripes, so long as they meet strict
criteria: Iraqis seeking to live in the region must
have a local resident who acts as a guarantor; on
arrival they are required to go to the KRG residency
officer to register with the government; and all are
obligated to return regularly to report their living
status.
KRG officials insist such measures are both fair and
essential to preserve the peace that holds in the
Kurdistan region, noting that no coalition troops
have been killed or civilians kidnapped in the
region since the 2003 U.S.-led liberation.
That peace does not extend, however, to Kirkuk, an
ethnically mixed city just outside the
Kurdish-administered region of Kurdistan that the
KRG would like to annex. On March 16, a series of
bombings in the city killed at least 26 persons.
Under a Cabinet decision made public over the
weekend, Arabs in Kirkuk will be offered the
equivalent of $15,000 and a plot of land in their
former communities if they go back voluntarily in
the coming months.
Planning Minister Ali Baban said the plan was
adopted over opposition from Sunni Arab members of
the Shi'ite-led government, members of the Iraqi
List led by former Shi'ite Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi, and at least one Cabinet minister loyal to
radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Sunni
Justice Minister Hashim Al-Shebli resigned.
Saddam Hussein forcibly removed as many as 250,000
Kurds and other non-Arab minorities from Kirkuk
during the 1970s and replaced them with
pro-government Sunni Arabs from the south. But
thousands have moved back, and Kurds are now thought
to hold the majority.
The Iraqi Constitution mandates that a referendum on
control of Kirkuk must be held by the end of this
year, with the Kurds expected to win.
"We demanded that the question of Kirkuk be resolved
through dialogue between the political blocs and not
through the committee," Mr. Baban told the
Associated Press last week. "They say the
repatriation is voluntary, but we have our doubts."
As the central government encourages Arabs to move
out of Kirkuk, the regional Kurdistan government
says it is reaching out to help many of the new Arab
arrivals to find housing and jobs in Iraqi
Kurdistan.
"We have our doors open to all Iraqis who desire
peace, regardless of their background," said Lt.
Rebwar Mohammed, an officer in the regional police
force in Erbil. "They are protected here."
Abbas Khafaji, an Arab who moved north from Baghdad
after his uncle was killed by Sunni gunmen, agreed.
A Kurdish acquaintance gave him a job at a downtown
hotel when he arrived three months ago that pays
enough for him and his family to live in safety. He
calls himself "lucky" to have found work in the
growing service sector and has no plans for leaving
any time soon.
But some Kurds are troubled by the influx of
displaced people, fearing that a surge in crime may
follow.
"When things were miserable here under Saddam, we
didn't all run to Baghdad and beg for help. We took
care of ourselves," said Amed Shkak, a taxi driver
from Sulaimaniyah, the region's second-largest
Kurdish city.
"Why should we give up jobs for Arabs when we've
worked so hard to create a future for the Kurdish
people? Our suffering was as bad."
washtimes com
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
about 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city
and the region's oil industry.
Kirkuk city is a Kurdistani city and it lies just
south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region and
it is not under the full control of Kurdistan
Regional Government administration, its population
is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,
Turkmen.
The Iraqi Constitution mandates that a referendum on
control of Kirkuk must be held by the end of this
year to decide whether the oil-rich
Kurdish province should be annexed to the safe
semiautonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.
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