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| Homeland: Ali Mahdi, a Turkmen deputy in Kirkuk, points to a map of the historic Turkmen community in Iraq. Sam Dagher |
Can the U.N. avert a Kirkuk border war?
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq is expected to unveil a plan in May that it hopes will lead to a compromise over contentious land issues in oil-rich northern Iraq.
from the April 25, 2008 edition
Page 3 of 3
The Arab leaders in Kirkuk, including some of the US supported and funded sheikhs involved in the Awakening movement, or sahwas, against Al Qaeda, held a conference last month to announce that the Kurds are "dreaming" if they think Kirkuk would ever be part of the KRG.
"Kirkuk is for all Iraqis and it will stay that way," says Sheikh Issa al-Jubbouri, who leads a US-funded militia in Zab, southwest of the city of Kirkuk. He says he receives nearly $250,000 each month from the US military.
But as the resolution of the Kirkuk issue drags on, many average Iraqis feel as if they are living in limbo. Almost daily, hundreds of people come to the provincial council office in the hopes of receiving payment from the national committee tasked with implementing Article 140.
Kurds, driven out by Arabization and who have resettled in Kirkuk, receive roughly $8,300 in assistance. Arabs leaving receive double that. But there is still much hardship on both sides.
Bikhal Karim, a Kurd, says that her family fears the potential of more violence and still can't afford to stay in the city of Kirkuk and want to go back to Suliemaniyah, inside the KRG.
"When I get this check cashed we are going back," she says.
An Arab family that has returned to Samarra, in neighboring Salaheddin Province, is also trying to collect compensation. "If they share the oil, we do not have a problem if they [Kurds] take Kirkuk," says Omar Mustafa. But his comment is immediately condemned by other Arabs standing nearby, just one piece of evidence of how difficult it will be to solve the Kirkuk question
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