Interview of Nermine Al-Mufti (in Arabic)

Monte Carlo Doualiya

Interview of Nermine Al-Mufti, spokesperson of Iraqi Turkmen Front in Iraq.

Ms Nermine Al-Mufti comments the visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gül in Iraq and the relations between the Turkmen and Kurdish communities in Iraq.

Un invité quotidien de la rédaction qui réagit sur les grands sujets de l’actualité régionale et internationale.

Nermine AL-MUFTI
Mme Nermine AL-MUFTI, porte parole du Front turkmène en Irak, commente la visite du président turc Abdullah GÜL en Irak et les relations entre les communautés turkmène et les kurde d’Irak.Imad

KHAYAT.

24/03/2009

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Arab, Turk or Kurd?

FLASH BACK

This is what journalist Nermine Al-Mufti wrote on 19th August 2004


Arab, Turk or Kurd?

Nermine Al-Mufti traces the chequered past of an ethnically interwoven city

Time was that Kirkuk was a microcosm of Iraq's social strata, a myriad of ethnic, doctrinal and religious variations. Back then, Iraqis used to say that the best thing about their country was its complex structure, the mosaic of a long history of civilisation. Today Kirkuk still mirrors Iraq, but what it mirrors is a wounded country, a country hesitant to choose between federalism and confederacy, a country fearful of partition, a country racked by daily military operations, terror attacks, assassinations and organised crimes, by murder, drugs and abduction.

Kirkuk was the city, because of oil, that gave Iraq its wealth and relative modern fame. Today, this same oil makes the city dread a divided future, makes its inhabitants wish that their city never had that source of wealth that made them poor and sleepless.

I visited Kirkuk recently, having read a Human Rights Watch report that warned of hostilities breaking out at any moment in the city. I found pictures of Kurdish Turkish leader Abdullah Ocalan plastered on the walls in the Kurdish parts as well as elsewhere in the city, along with the Kurdish flag. Kirkuk was the last city in Iraq to fly the Iraqi flag following the restoration of "sovereignty". It was as if the city's Kurdish officials were coerced into raising a flag they hardly recognise.

In Kirkuk, assassinations and threats continue, with everyone demanding their rights while ignoring those of others. Why the Ocalan images? Perhaps they were meant as a signal to the Turkish authorities that sent a military commissioner to divine the mood in the city. Half the population of Kirkuk, according to reliable Iraqi and Western documents, are Turkoman. The rest are Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that over half the population of Kirkuk is Turkoman. Hanna Batatu, in his trilogy about Iraq, describes the city as "Turkish [Turkoman] in every sense of the word", at least until recently. The Kurds moved gradually from nearby villages to this town. Stephen Longrigg, in his book Four Centuries of Modern Iraq, says that ancient Turkoman immigrants settled in Talafar and a long line of villages on the Mosul road between Dali Abbass and Al-Zab Al-Kabir. Most of them settled in beautiful Kirkuk, which changed little in the last two centuries, Longrigg states.

Salim Matar, in his book The Dialogue of Identities, refers to the Declaration ratified by the parliamentary council meeting on 5 May and addressed to the League of Nations. The Declaration contains Iraq's pledges to the Council of the League of Nations. The pledges were drafted by a committee formed by the Council upon a decision made on 28 January 1932. The Declaration, in Article 9, states that the dominant community in the Kafri and Kirkuk provinces is Turkoman and notes that "the Turkish and Kurdish languages have been declared official languages, alongside Arabic."

There are dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of documents testifying to the majority of Turkoman in Kirkuk.

Saadeddin Arkej, chairman of the Turkoman Council, says that according to the 1957 census, one of the most credible censuses in Iraq, the Turkoman numbered 560,000 of Iraq's total population of 6 million. Many documents speak of the concentration of Turkoman in a crescent running from Talafar, north of Mosul, to the outskirts of Diyali to the east. "But we have always been, and still are, for a pluralist and united Iraq. We want to coexist as we always did, Arabs, Kurds and Turkoman," Arkej adds.

One Kurdish researcher, who wrote several books about the Kurds and their struggle, says that Kurdish demands are excessive, and that because of the close ties Kurds have with the Americans, they have lost much of the credibility and sympathy they used to enjoy among Iraqis in general. The Kurds have paid a high price, and now they want compensation, but the truth is that all Iraqis deserve compensation, the researcher notes.

Mohamed Rashid Kirkuki, a Kurd from Kirkuk, says, "For a reason still unknown to me, I and my family were expelled from Kirkuk. Not all the Kurds who entered the city after 10 April, 2003 were expelled in the past. We are the original Kurds of Kirkuk. We came back and we found our homes and property that Saddam's regime had confiscated. Unfortunately, some found their homes demolished, but they have the title deeds. The compensations are complicated because of those who do not have the right papers. These people, unbeknown to them, have become a bargaining chip in the hands of the leaders. They are poor people, and yet they have become fodder for the continued conflict over Kirkuk."

Khabad Shirwan, also a Kurd from Kirkuk, says that everyone should recognise the Kurdishness of Kirkuk and take into account the demonstrations that were staged in support of independence. Our future is in Kirkuk, regardless of any decisions or viewpoints, Shirwan adds.
Hundreds of thousands of Arabs live in Kirkuk, a vestige of Saddam's attempt to Arabise the city. Residents of the city were able to marginalise the newcomers, particularly since most of the latter were poor and illiterate countryside people and no match for an urban society with the least percentage of illiteracy in Iraq. Some of the Arab newcomers were housed in homes of the Turkoman and Kurds who had been expelled or forced to sell their property.

To complicate things further, the Arab newcomers have given up all their rights back in their hometowns. They are now registered Kirkuk residents, with nowhere to go. They have been driven by poverty to take a part in the Arabisation. Some of them have left Kirkuk. Others have been expelled. But the majority still reside in Kirkuk and now the Kurds want them out.

While the Arabs of Kirkuk are trying to side with the Turkoman in confronting the Kurdish tide, a problem surfaced in the village of Bashir, one that led to tensions between the Arabs and the Turkoman. Irshad Harmazi, a former resident of Bashir, claims that the village, which was Shia and Turkoman, was the scene of genocide. Over 350 families were killed, although some women and children managed to get away, he says. Saddam gave the village's agricultural land to Arab peasants from the original Arab stock of Kirkuk, and now the latter refuse to return the land to its original owners. Turkoman never resort to arms to settle their problems, I was told. As a result, they frequently lose their rights.

Kirkuk is getting ready for a new census that will be pivotal in determining its future. It is watching closely the Kurdish waves of newcomers, who are settling everywhere, including in football fields and scouts camps. Ethnic clashes in Kirkuk are one reason for the postponement of the National Assembly.


Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/704/re6.htm

Another step back, by Nermeen Al-Mufti

Clashes over oil in the south may bring intra-confessional tensions again to the fore in Iraq, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti

Last Saturday, 2.5 million Iraqis gathered in Karbala, 160 kilometres south of Baghdad, to celebrate Ashura, a festival marking the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohamed's grandson. As crowds went about the business of celebrating, US helicopters circled overhead and nearly 42,000 Iraqi troops stood watching, mindful of the bloodshed of last year. Thankfully, the day ended peacefully in Karbala, if not in other parts of Iraq.

In Kirkuk, two explosive charges were set off during the Ashura celebrations, though with no reports of casualties. In the dominantly Shia town of Shuala, National Security Adviser Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie was detained for sometime by "groups linked with foreign forces."

Street clashes were reported in the dominantly Shia cities of Basra and Al-Nasiriya, where combatants said to belong to the Soldiers of Heaven brigade exchanged fire with gunmen from the Mahdawiya Movement -- a group banned two weeks ago by Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the country's top Shia cleric. Calm has been restored to both cities, but police sources say that 126 were either killed or wounded. Basra's police chief said that security forces hunted down gunmen in the neighbourhoods of Al-Jumhuriya, Al-Judayida and Al-Zahraa, seizing one of their safe houses.

Sources in Al-Nasiriya said that a senior army officer is believed to have helped the gunmen, and may have plotted with them for the occupation of the Emergency Brigade Command Centre. Eyewitnesses say that the 10th Division of the Iraqi Army is now in control of the area situated between Nile and Uruba Streets. Heavy police deployment is also reported in Al-Salihiya. An official source says that 29 were killed, 22 wounded and 19 captured of the gunmen affiliated with Ahmed Al-Yamani.

Speaking at a news conference in Baghdad, Al-Rubaie said that the armed group that clashed with security forces in Basra and Al-Nasiriya was a "misguided group that has strayed from the tenets of Islam." Among the detainees were two teenage girls who had joined the group and were firing at crowds celebrating Ashura, police sources said.

It all boils down to oil. A senior Iraqi officer said that the armed groups involved in recent clashes were attempting to control oil facilities in the south. The newspaper Al-Hayat quoted a military commander as saying that members of an "armed group" had briefly occupied an oil installation belonging to the South Oil Company -- one of the largest petroleum corporations in Iraq -- before Iraqi police expelled them.

"One of the suspects, having been arrested by the police in Basra, admitted that a similar group in Al-Hella was planning attacks similar to those mounted in Basra and Al-Nasiriya," the commander added.

Emergency Brigade commander Staff Major General Naji Al-Jabiri and Major General Zamel Rumeid were both killed in Al-Nasiriya by gunmen when Mahdawiya Movement fighters attacked the police intelligence centre in Al-Nasiriya with light- and medium-calibre weapons, police said.

However, Al-Sharqiya TV aired a taped message in which a spokesman for the Mahdawiya Movement contested police reports. The spokesman claimed that the media was only reporting one side of the story. He added that hundreds were arrested, including children, during the recent incidents. The spokesman added that the movement's leader, Al-Yamani, has nothing to do with the group named Soldiers of Heaven. The Mahdawiya was a peaceful movement that upheld humanitarian causes and was opposed to sectarianism, he stated.

US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker warned that Iraq's security might deteriorate once again. Although the situation improved considerably last year, the ambassador said, Nuri Al-Maliki's government had failed to use this achievement to improve other aspects of life in the country.

One day before the Ashura celebration, the Sadr current hinted that it might take up arms once again. Reasons for the "suspension" of activities of the Mahdi Army were no longer valid, in view of the recent clashes in Basra and Al-Nasiriya, officials of the Sadr current said.

The statement followed clashes in Al-Diwaniya between police and gunmen believed affiliated with the Sadr current. Salah Al-Obeidi, spokesman for the Sadr current, told the AFP that the government had failed to dismiss "criminals" from police ranks. Nonetheless, Al-Obeidi cautioned restraint. "We tell the Mahdi Army that we are committed to a policy of peace and to legal and reasonable ways of protecting our rights," he said.


Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/881/re3.htm

Kale gazetesi üç yaşında

Kale gazetesi 01.12.2005 tarihinde sıfır sayısını çıkardı.
Türkmen kimliğiyle tanınan Kale gazetesi 3. yıl gibi kısa bir zaman dilimi içerisinde Irak'ın her yerinde Türkmenlerin sesini duyur-makta ön safalara geçebildi. Arapça yayımlanan Kale Gazetesi, kısa bir zaman içinde geniş bir okuyucu kitlesine hitap ederek birçok illerde dağıtım bakımından önde gelen gazetelerden sayılmayabaşladı.

Gazetenin çalışmalarına daha fazla ışık tutmak için Gazetenin bürosunu ziyaret ettik ve Başyazarı gazteci bayan Nermin Müftü'yle bir söyleşi yapabildik. Yoğun bir çalışma günler'inde bize kısa bir zaman ayırmış olsalarda çalışmalarını yakından gördüğümüze memün olduk.

Nermin hanım sorduk : Kale gazetesinin adı nereden geldi?- Kale isminin hemen Kerkük'ü andırdığını ve başta Irak olmak üzere Kerkük'ün yüce bir kale olduğundan kaynaklanıyor... bu ismi gazeteye ünvan olarak seçtiğimiz böyle boşuboşuna değildir elbette.Kale gazetesi Arapça konularında tüm Arap okurlarına Türkmen davasını iletmeyi pılanlamış ve Arapça Türkmen olmayan okurlara Türkmen davasını anlatmak ve onların dava yanında olmaları istenmiştir.

Kale gazetesinde 22 kişiden oluşan bir ekip çalışıyor. Her zaman Irak'ın toprak bütünlüğüne yönelik çalışmalarımız ve yazılarımız gazeteye damgasını vurmuş ve aşağı yukarı Kale'nin kimliğini yansıtmıştır.gazetenin merkezi başkent'te olduğun-dan dolayı çalışmalarında güvenlik açısından oldukça sorunlar yaşandığını kayde-den Nermin Müftü, '' Bağat' taki durum bizi ciddi bir şekilde etkiliyor'' diye vurguladı.

Nermin hanım gazetede sergiledikleri fikirde kendileriyle ters yönde olanları anlattığında şöyle dedi : Hiç kimse bizi etkileye-medi çünkü açıkca görüşler-ini iletmekten aciz kalanlar, ileriki gelişmeler bizim doğru yönde olduğumuzu ispat etti. Çok açık bir görüşümüz var biz, Irak'ın Halk ve toprak olarak bütünlüğü yanındayız. Biz Irak'ın birlik ve beraberliğine çağıryoruz. Kimde de bu düşüncenin tersi varsa meydan var bağırsınlar bakıyım. Kimi taraflar karşı çıktılar, Kerkük bir Irak kenti olduğunu söyle-diğimizde bizi eleştirdiler ve bu yüzden mahkemelik olduk. Bana yönelik olumsuz yazıların karşısındada kimi tanımadığım yazarlar çok farklı cevaplarda da bulunmuşlardır.
Bu da kale gazetesinin Irak'ta yaşananlara karşı sergilemiş olduğu net tavırdan kaynaklanmaktadır.

Nermin Müftü, Kale gazetesinin kısa bir zamanda Irak'ta çıkan diğer gazetelerin arasında itibarli bir konuma sahip olduğunu öne sürerken '' Irak'ın her yerinde okunmaktayız diye ekledi. Hele son sayfamız tam bir Iraklı sayfadır diye söyleyen Müftü, diğer sayfalarda çeşitli makale ve yazıların yer aldığını anlat-mıştır. 8 sayfa ile başlayan Kale gazetesi bugün 12 sayfalık bir gazetedir. Gazetede Irak vatandaşına vatandaşlık haklarını anlatan bir köşenin bulunması gazeteye olumlu bir özellik bir ayrıcalık vermiştir. işte O'da Kale'nin kimliğidir. Üç yaşını doldurmuş olan Kale Gazetesine uzun ömürler ve başarılar dileriz.

http://www.alkal3a.com/

Şafak Özel / Bağdat

Nermeen Al-Mufti reporting from Baghdad

Iraqi policewomen hold their weapons during their graduation ceremony in Karbala

Conflicting statements
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/878/re21.htm

Things are going well or not so well, depending on who you listen to, says Nermeen Al-Mufti

Iraq entered its fifth year of American occupation with two contradictory announcements, one by Iraqi security officials, the other by the commander of American forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus. It brought 2007 to a close with a parliament unable to conduct business because there weren't sufficient MPs on hand for the necessary quorum, as a good many of them had travelled to Mecca for the pilgrimage. As a result, many laws remained pending, most notably the controversial oil and gas bill which came under heavy criticism for offering too many concessions to foreign companies.

According to General Abdul-Aziz Mohamed Jassem, director of military operations in the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, the security conditions in Iraq will continue to improve over the coming months. "2008 will mark a new beginning for the security situation in Iraq which will take as its starting point the relative stability being experienced in the various neighbourhoods of Baghdad," he said. "The evidence affirms that the coming few months will be critical in bringing an end to terrorism in the country." He went on to laud the new strategy formulated by the Iraqi government and the multinational forces for having been highly instrumental in restoring stability to the areas that had suffered security breakdowns. He anticipated "greater progress in this realm in the coming phase".

General Petraeus had a different take on the situation. He held that although Iraq has moved back from the brink of civil war, the recent security gains and the progress that had been made in curbing sectarian violence in Iraq were "fragile and could still break down". In a press statement issued to mark the end of 2007 the commander of American forces in Iraq said that he believed that the Al-Qaeda was the chief enemy in Iraq because it aims to rekindle sectarian violence. Success against this enemy "will be slow and intermittent, with some losses and some gains.

There is certain to be some violent fighting and some more very difficult days and weeks, but increasingly fewer in number, God willing," he said. On the other hand, he was heartened by the progress achieved by the Iraqi Sahwa (Awakening) Councils. "The assaults in which Iranian weapons are used have declined," he said, adding a word of praise for the part Syria and Saudi Arabia have played in stemming the influx of foreign fighters into Iraq.

This latter point was confirmed by a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official who told Al-Ahram Weekly that Saudi and Syrian cooperation had a considerable impact on reducing the level of violence in Iraq.

The Iraqi government has approved or requested the extension of the presence of US forces in Iraq until the end of 2008. Washington is planning to withdraw 20,000 troops by the middle of this year. At the same time, it will reduce the profile of many of the remaining forces as it gradually hands security tasks to Iraqi forces.

Both Iraqi and American officials attributed the reduction in military and sectarian violence to the fact that the Sunni Arab tribes had turned against Al-Qaeda and to the ceasefire proclaimed by Muqtada Al-Sadr. The anti-American Shia spiritual leader also suspended the activities of the Mahdi Army. Such developments did not sit well with Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden who, in a new tape recording whose veracity has yet to be confirmed, condemned the Sahwa Councils and called upon Iraqi Islamists to declare their support for Abu Amr Al-Baghdadi as "the emir of Islamic Iraq".

In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Director of the National Command Centre in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior General Abdul-Karim Khallaf said that his ministry would soon be preparing to take over the security portfolio for Baghdad in August. He, too, felt that great progress had been made in this domain, noting that between June and December armed engagements declined between 70 and 90 per cent, assassinations by 79 per cent and kidnappings by 72 per cent.

In addition, casualties among the police, army and civilians have declined by 23 per cent, 28 per cent and 34 per cent respectively. Also, he said, now no more than three to five unidentified bodies surface a day. General Khallaf attributed this marked improvement in the security situation to the sincere commitment on the part of Iraq's neighbours to prevent infiltration across the borders and to the establishment of some 580 checkpoints on the borders. On the number of police killed in Baghdad during 2007 the director of the National Command Centre said that the Ministry of Interior lost 18,200 of its policemen this year, 60 per cent of whom died in Baghdad.

General Aydin Khaled, deputy minister for police affairs, told the Weekly that the Ministry of Interior dismissed 95 police officers two weeks ago on the grounds that they let their party or sectarian affiliations interfere with the performance of their duties. Also during the past year, the ministry dispensed with the services of more than 15,000 police conscripts.

Turning to another dimension of the situation in Iraq, Al-Yaqiza published a special report entitled, "Two million Iraqi women lost their husbands during the war". The article quoted Wafaa Sadiq, director of the office of the president of the British-based Islamic Relief organisation, as saying that about two million Iraqi war widows now support their large families. She complains that a media cover-up has prevented the flow abroad of sufficient information for people around the world to appreciate the magnitude of the hardship faced by millions of women in Iraq. Other newspapers cited reports by international humanitarian agencies stating that more than five million orphans are in desperate need of care.

At the political level, Kurdish leaders who had threatened to withdraw from the political process in the event of the passage of the controversial amendment to Article 140 of the constitution, pertaining to a solution to contested territories, have now changed tack. Instead of all contested areas, they have now focussed their attention on Kirkuk and the oil-rich areas around Mosul.

Article 140 officially expired on 31 December 2007. According to Aydin Aksu, the representative of the Iraqi Turkoman Front in Baghdad, the committee charged with drafting the amendment did not complete its work by this deadline and, therefore, the referendum on it could not be held on the constitutionally set date. He suggested that the leadership will hold true to its threat to withdraw from the government if Article 140 is not amended or extended. The two major Kurdish parties, the PUK led by President Jalal Talabani and the PDK led by Masoud Barzani, have allied themselves with the Islamic Party, headed by Vice-President Tareq Al-Hashemi, in the interests of pushing for an extension.

The alliance has been condemned by Arab and Turkoman politicians who fear a replay of the memorandum of understanding on Kirkuk, the promulgation of Article 140 and the as yet undisclosed annex regarding Mosul, which, according to information leaked to the press, contains Al-Hashemi's approval for "normalising the situation in Mosul".

However, the Kurdish territory issue plays out, Nuri Al-Maliki, whom Kurdish leaders once viewed as an ally but now oppose on the grounds of his failure to implement the provisions of Article 140, started off the New Year in a hospital in London, where he is to undergo a battery of medical tests due to fatigue.

According to the official Iraqi government newspaper Al-Sabah, Al-Maliki has set the priorities for his government in 2008: consolidating and building on the political, security and economic achievements of 2007.

The Iraqi people, worn out by the strains and anxieties of life in their war-torn country, undoubtedly share this hope.

Violence is up writes Nermeen Al-Mufti

No calm in sight

Violence is up, Al-Qaeda is adapting to new security measures and parliament is at loggerheads, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti

Just as the US occupation authorities expected, violence has surged once again in Iraq. Special units, supposedly Tehran-backed, bombed a pet market in central Baghdad on Friday, killing and wounding 70 people. A US official said that four people were detained in connection with the bombing. Rear Admiral Greg Smith, spokesman for the US army, said forensics, intelligence, and confessions of the detainees all point to a cell affiliated with Iranian-backed groups.

Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, leader of the Higher Islamic Council in Iraq, said that the US would need more evidence to prove that Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq. Al-Hakim made this remark after returning from Iran, where he receives periodic treatment for lung cancer. The American and Iranian ambassadors are preparing for talks in Baghdad. "We will try to make the talks successful, for good results would be beneficial for all, primarily the Iraqi people," Al-Hakim said.

Clashes between the Awakening Councils and the Al-Qaeda fighters resumed in Samaraa and Diyali, where 19 people were killed, including children. Iraqi officials warned that Al-Qaeda was changing its tactics to adapt to the new security measures and may have infiltrated security services and even the Awakening Councils. A video showing the execution of nine Iraqi policemen was released on the Internet. In that video, Al-Qaeda warned the public not to cooperate with the Americans, and issued threats to the Awakening Councils, formed by the US to fight Al-Qaeda operatives.

According to the police chief of Karbala, Shaker Gawdat, over 25 girls have been raped by officials and armed groups. The families of the victims have filed lawsuits against the presumed perpetrators. The police chief didn't give details on the timing of the crimes or the identity of the perpetrators, but he said that one of the perpetrators confessed.

Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki came under attack as well. Leaders of the Sadr Current met Vice-President Tareq Al-Hashimi to complain that Al-Maliki ordered police to arrest followers of the Sadr Current in Baghdad and the southern governorates. Sadr supporters gave the vice-president evidence of several crimes committed by close associates of Al-Maliki. Iraqi websites also carried documents said to be incriminating to Al-Maliki.

The family of a journalist known for his opposition to the prime minister was attacked last Sunday. According to the local newspaper Az-Zaman, unidentified gunmen in a truck shot dead 11 members of the family of Dia Al-Kawwaz, the editor-in-chief of Akhbar Al-Iraq who emigrated recently to Germany.

In parliament, a draft of the Accountability and Justice Law, now being debated in parliament, intended to replace the Eradication of Baath Law passed by former US civilian administrator Paul Bremer, is facing difficulties. Parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani reacted angrily to Falah Shanshal, a senior official at the Sadr Current, who accused the speaker of trying to push the law through too soon.

Deputies of the Sadr Current banged on their chairs to disrupt the reading of the draft law. At one point, Al-Mashhadani threatened to expel the Sadr supporters from the session. Since Prime Minister Al-Maliki proposed the law last June, several deputies voiced reservations, including the 30 deputies of the Sadr Current.

If ratified, the new law would allow many former Baath Party members to go back to their jobs and receive pensions. Falah Shanshal, who is also the chairman of the Eradication Committee in parliament, said that political parties agreed on 27 articles of a total of 30, but disagreed over the remaining three. The Accordance Front, the National Dialogue Front and other politicians maintain that the abolition of the Eradication of Baath Law is a prerequisite for national unity.

Another governmental conflict is between the Ministry of Petroleum and the regional government of Kurdistan are at loggerheads over the recent decision by Petroleum Minister Hussein Al-Shahrestani to cancel contracts signed by the Kurds with foreign companies. Petroleum Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said the entire government supports the minister's decision to abrogate the said contracts. "The contracts signed by the Kurds with foreign companies are void and illegal because petroleum production must be supervised by the Iraqi national company SOMO," he added.


Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/873/re83.htm