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Kurdistan, Iraq conflict threatens to bring new violence |
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Kurdistan, Iraq conflict threatens to
bring new violence
15.8.2012
By Christophe Ayad - Guardian Weekly |
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Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Last month they
prevented the Iraqi national army reaching a
crossing into Syria. Photo: AFP/Getty
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August 15, 2012
Just how far will the dispute between Iraq and Iraqi
Kurdistan go? Clashes between the Iraqi prime
minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and Kurdistan president,
Massoud Barzani, have been escalating since the US
withdrawal at the end of 2011, leading to
speculation about the declaration of an independent
Kurdish state. Certainly the hypothesis of an armed
conflict between the central Iraqi government and
the autonomous Kurdish region cannot be excluded.
One recent example of current tensions occurred last
month when the Kurdish Peshmerga
prevented the
Iraqi national army from reaching the Fishkhabur
crossing into Syria in the Zimar region, one of the
"disputed territories". According to AFP, an
anonymous Iraqi source has accused the Kurdish
authorities of illegally buying anti-aircraft and
anti-tank weapons "with help from a foreign
country". Fingers point to Turkey, which supports
Iraqi Kurdistan and is in conflict with Baghdad.
Last spring Barzani tried in vain to dissuade the US
from selling F16 fighter planes to Iraq.
This tension has been exacerbated by the war in
Syria. Barzani supports the rebels whereas Maliki,
who is pro-Iran supports Bashar al-Assad. Profiting
from this situation, the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida
has resurfaced and on 23 July claimed responsibility
for a series of attacks that killed 116 people.
Baghdad and Erbil have an endless list of
grievances, ranging from border controls and the
integration of the peshmerga to the Iraqi national
army, to the delimitation of Kurdistan and the
sharing of wealth between the centre and the
autonomous region – especially oil.
There is a fear that growing Kurdish independence
will serve as an example to the Sunni provinces, or
even to the oil-rich Shia province of Basra in the
far south of Iraq, which produces 2m of the 2.5m
Iraqi barrels a day. "Al-Maliki would far rather be
the leader of a large country than the master of a 'Shia-istan'
in the south of Iraq," was one western diplomat's
analysis. Conversely,www.ekurd.net
Barzani sees himself as the defender of Iraqi
minorities in the face of Shia "hegemony". That is
why he granted asylum to the Sunni vice-president
Tariq al-Hashemi in December 2011, after he was
judged in abstentia in Iraq for having headed a
death squad during the civil war (2005-2008).
The Kurdish-Sunni rapprochement, promoted by Turkey,
has led to a coalition that is seeking to overthrow
Maliki – so far without success. In retaliation, the
Iraqi prime minister denounced his opponent's
corruption and nepotism on a private Kurdish
television station last June, pointing out that
Barzani's son heads the autonomous region's security
services while his nephew is prime minister.
At the core of this friction lies the issue of Iraqi
Kurdistan's independence. According to one diplomat,
Barzani's dilemma is as follows: "He knows that
Kurdistan is not ready and that other countries in
the region would not appreciate a declaration of
independence. But he is also aware that the longer
he waits, the stronger Baghdad will become."
This article originally appeared in Le Monde
www.lemonde.fr
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
guardian.co.uk
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