Excerpt from document
(C) Summary: Kurdish leaders in Khanaqin (Diyala
Province) claimed increasing tensions between Arabs and Kurds
in nearby Jalula and Saadiya are a result of intimidation
from Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and a Ba,athist resurgence
in the area. The Kurdish leaders voiced their support for
what they see as favorably positioned joint border
checkpoints.

Full Document
ClassificationSECRET//NOFORN Header
VZCZCXRO8329
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #2844/01 2961223
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231223Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5197
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
Content
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002844

**C O R R E C T E D C O P Y**
ADD CLASSIFICATION REASONS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2019
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINS, KDEM, IZ
SUBJECT: KURD LEADERS IN DIYALA: INCREASED ARAB
INTIMIDATION OF KURDS

REF: BAGHDAD 1311

BAGHDAD 00002844 001.2 OF 002

Classified By: OPA Deputy Director Henry Wooster for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)

1. (U) This is a Diyala PRT Message.

2. (C) Summary: Kurdish leaders in Khanaqin (Diyala
Province) claimed increasing tensions between Arabs and Kurds
in nearby Jalula and Saadiya are a result of intimidation
from Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and a Ba,athist resurgence
in the area. The Kurdish leaders voiced their support for
what they see as favorably positioned joint border
checkpoints. However, they predicted that their relative
power in Iraq is weakening, and that Kurdish parties would
have fewer parliamentary seats after the upcoming elections.
End Summary.

KURDS INSIST KHANAQIN IS KURDISTAN
-------------

3. (C) During an October 9-11 visit to Khanaqin city in
northern Diyala Province, numerous Kurdish political leaders
and local officials, including Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP)
deputy party leader Alaa Al Deen Dawoodi, and former Khanaqin
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party leader Muhsin Ali
Akbar described the city of Khanaqin as a defacto part of
Kurdistan. Khanaqin Investigative Judge Habib Hameed Ali
told PRToff that his courthouse is &under the KRG8 and that
while Arab defendants are sent to courts in Baqubah, Kurdish
defendants are referred for trial in Sulaymaniyah or Erbil.
The Kurdish leaders, refrain to PRToffs was that all of
Khanaqin, including the cities of Mandali, Jalula, Saadiya,
Qara Tapa and oil-rich Nafkana are historically Kurdish and
rightfully belong to Kurdistan.

KURDS ACCUSE GOI OF DELAYING ARTICLE 140 TO &ARABIZE8
KHANAQIN
--------------
4. (C) Rabiha Hama Abdulla, a Kurdish member of the national
Council of Representatives said areas like Sinjar and
Khanaqin were &low-hanging fruit8 in comparison to Kirkuk
and should be resolved quickly under the Article 140 process.
However, Kurdish leaders were generally skeptical about
their ability to use Iraqi institutions such as the judiciary
or COR committees to move the Article 140 agenda forward.
Kurd leaders in Khanaqin, including the Article 140 Committee
representative for Khanaqin, Adnan Mansoor, asserted that a
timely resolution was not occurring because PM Maliki and the
GOI were purposefully delaying the census and Article 140
negotiations in order to &Arabize8 traditional Kurdish
areas like Jalula and Saadiya.

KURDS claim Police and Army INITIMIDATION IN JALULA AND
SAADIYA
--------------

5. (C) Moreover, Kurd leaders in Khanaqin claimed increasing
tensions between Arabs and Kurds in Jalula and Saadiya are a
direct result of PM Maliki and the GOI using the Iraqi
Security Forces to &Arabize8 these cities. Salah Konya,
PUK leader reported that the Iraqi Army (IA) and Iraqi Police
(IP) have recently increased intimidation of Kurdish families
living in Saadiya and Jalula. Amir Rifa,at, KDP
representative for Jalula, and others pointed to the June 7,
2009 &Bashar Al Kheir8 IA operation as the most recent GOI
attempt to weaken Kurds in Jalula ) decrying the deaths of
Kurdish civilians in the operation. Rifa,at and others
reported that IA and IP regularly harass Kurdish political
party headquarters in Qara Tapa, Saadiya, and Jalula. Konya
stated that some 500 Kurdish families had fled Saadiya over
the past few months as a result of the intimidation tactics.
Rifa,at said that IP forces in Jalula reported directly to
Baghdad instead of through Baqubah.

KURDS CLAIM RESURGENCE OF BA'ATHISTS IN JALULA
-------------

6. (C) Diyala Kurdish leaders, including Provincial Council
Q6. (C) Diyala Kurdish leaders, including Provincial Council
Chairman Abdul al-Talib Mohammed Hassan and a Kurdish COR
Representative said that the Ba,athist ideology was alive
and well in Diyala, and continues to provided a fertile
ground for recruiting insurgents. He said it would take a
generation to change these attitudes. Local Kurdish party
leaders reported that Kurds on national police Emergency
Reaction Forces (ERF) in Jalula, as well as regular national
police forces, had been pushed out or transferred, and
replaced with Ba,athist Arabs from the Kirwi tribe who they
said have ties to Al-Qaeda. Furthermore, Aref Adil Jassam,
the mayor of Jabara, and Mohammed Wala Hassan, the mayor of
Khanaqin, reported that recent threats to assassinate mayors

BAGHDAD 00002844 002 OF 002

in the area should be attributed to pro-Ba,athist groups
such as Naqshbandi (JRTN). Sheikh Yacoob Yousef Ali, an Arab
from the Leheb tribe in Jalula told PRToffs that many Arabs
and Kurds have good relations in the region, but that
nefarious actors, such as the Kirwi tribe, were undermining
good relations and promulgating Ba,athist ideologies and
organized crime.

KURDS VOICED SUPPORT FOR JOINT CHECKPOINTS IN KHANAQIN
------------

7. (C) Diyala Kurdish leaders generally voiced approval of
the proposed joint Arab-Kurd boundary checkpoints because
they believe it establishes a de facto border favorable to
their position. The mayors for Jabara and Khanaqin stated
that they would support the checkpoints if there was
oversight from the United States. The party leaders,
including PUK and KDP, blamed Arabs for not supporting the
proposal. Kurd leaders in Khanaqin were insistent that two
of the checkpoints be placed south of Jalula; something that
they indicated represented the proper &green line8 between
what was the KRG and Iraq. They also questioned the command
and control structure of the checkpoints, insisting that US
forces be in charge and that they remain at the checkpoints
over the long-term.

MAJOR KURDISH PARTIES PESSIMISTIC ABOUT UPCOMING ELECTIONS
--------------
8. (C) The major Kurdish political parties in Khanaqin spent
little time discussing the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary
elections during their meetings with PRToffs, emphasizing
that the tensions around Jalula were their number one
concern. Dawoodi and others expressed concern about 10,000
Kurdish families in Khanaqin who were not able to register
during the voter registration update because they lacked the
correct ration card series. In general, the major Kurdish
party leaders, including Jalal Sa,eed of the Kurdish
Socialist Party, projected that the Kurdish position would be
weakened in the upcoming elections. This was in contrast to
local representatives for the Change Movement who are
beginning to operate in Khanaqin and optimistically hoped to
gain 10-15 COR seats in the upcoming elections.

9. (C) Comment: Kurdish leaders in Khanaqin repeatedly
stressed that the cities of Jalula and Saadiya are the fault
line in Arab-Kurd tensions in Khanaqin. This narrative
promotes the underlying Kurdish assertion that cities north
of these areas are unquestionably Kurdish and belong to the
KRG. Kurdish leaders said their patience was waning with
regards to tensions in Jalula, suggesting that if the
situation &ignited8 it would quickly spread to other areas.
While tensions do appear on the rise in Jalula, Kurd leaders
in Khanaqin also appeared eager to paint a negative picture
that would encourage continued USG engagement and strengthen
what they perceive as their weakened power position. End
comment.

FORD