US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4919

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 004919 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, IZ, Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP 
SUBJECT: TURCOMAN CLAIMS OF KURDISH ATTACK ON IRAQI HOUSING 
MINISTER 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT S. FORD, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) 
AND (D). 
 
1. (C) Summary:  In a meeting with Islamic Union of Iraqi 
Turcomans leader Abbas al-Bayyati on December 5, he confirmed 
reports that the Iraqi Housing Minister, Jassim Jaafar (an 
ethnic Turcoman) was ambushed while visiting the Turcoman 
city of Tuz Khurmato in Salah-ad-Din province in late 
November.  Both Jaafar and Bayyati are accusing the Kurdish 
Pesh Merga forces of attacking the minister twice during his 
trip as an attempt to intimidate the Turcoman population 
during a period of escalating Kurdish-Turcoman tensions in 
the region.  In a separate telephone conversation with the 
KDP,s head of Public Affairs Falah Bakir on December 6, 
however, Bakir denied any KDP involvement in the attacks on 
Jaafar and suggested that the PUK was to blame.  The PUK, in 
turn, denied any involvement and accused Jaafar,s convoy of 
firing randomly into a crowd and instigating the attack.  On 
elections, Bayyati denied hearing any complaints about voter 
registration fraud or intimidation, and blamed former Prime 
Minister Allawi for inflaming public sentiment with his 
comments on Saddam Husayn.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------- 
(U) Turcomen Accuse the KDP 
--------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Iraqi press reports on November 28 quoted Housing 
Minister Jaafar as saying he was ambushed in Tuz Khurmato by 
National Guardsmen on November 24.  According to Turcoman 
politician Bayyati, there were two separate attacks on 
Jaafar.  The first occurred inside Tuz Khurmato, when the 
convoy stopped at a gas station.  Bayyati alleged that a KDP 
captain started firing a machine gun at the convoy and it was 
only with the assistance of the MNF-I that he was safely 
brought out of the city.  The second alleged attack occurred 
when the minister,s convoy narrowly missed being hit by an 
Improvised Explosive Device (IED) as it was crossing through 
the Hamreen Mountains path towards Baghdad.  By this point, 
the MNF-I escort had turned back to Salah-ad-Din. (Comment: 
This is the route most commonly used between Salah-ad-Din and 
Baghdad, according to Bayyati.  End Comment.) 
 
3. (C) In response to PolOff,s query on why they suspected 
the KDP, Bayyati claimed that the Kurds were seeking control 
over the area from the Hamreen Mountains to Zakho City, 
without interference from other political groups such as the 
Turcomen.  (Comment:  Bayyati's claim would mean that the 
Kurds would control over most of northeastern Iraq: parts of 
Diyala, Salah ad-Din, At Tamim, and Ninewa provinces, as well 
as the traditional Kurdish regions of Dohuk, Erbil, and 
Sulymaniyah.  A map some Kurdish constitution negotiators 
passed around showed even greater Kurdish ambitions to absorb 
parts of Wasit province into greater Kurdistan, ostensibly to 
include the Faily Kurds.  End Comment.) 
 
------------------------ 
(U) The KDP Denies Guilt 
------------------------ 
 
4. (C) In a separate telephone conversation with the KDP,s 
head of Public Affairs Falah Bakir on December 6, Bakir 
denied any KDP involvement in the attacks on Jaafar and 
suggested to PolOff that the PUK was to blame.  There is no 
Pesh Merga presence in either Tuz Khurmato or the Hamreen 
Mountain region, according to Bakir.  (Comment:  In addition 
to his media role, Falah Bakir is also KDP leader Masud 
Barzani,s political advisor and official translator.  End 
Comment.) 
 
5. (C) PUK-affiliated TNA member Sadoon Faily denied the KDP 
accusations of involvement to PolOff on December 7. 
According to Faily,s contacts in the PUK,s Tuz Khurmato 
office, the minister,s convoy tried to clear its way to the 
fuel station by randomly firing into the crowd.  During the 
shooting, a child was injured and the angry crowd started to 
attack the minister,s guards.  Faily accused Jaafar of 
starting this rumor of Kurdish involvement to cover the fact 
that the parents of the injured child, who are Turcomen, have 
initiated legal action against Jaafar. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
(U) Bayyati,s Assessment on Elections? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
6. (C) Moving to the elections, Bayyati said the inclusion of 
the Sunni Arabs would mean more challenges ahead politically 
for Iraq, but denied hearing any reports of election fraud 
and voter intimidation in the run-up to the December 
election.  He blamed any violence on former Prime Minister 
Ayad Allawi, stating that things were going smoothly until 
Allawi went to Najaf.  Instead of inflaming people with his 
comments on Saddam Husayn, cautioned Bayyati, Allawi should 
talk about what his party can offer.  The Shia Islamists, 
Sunni Arabs, and the Kurds are the &metal lists,8 so named 
by Iraqis because of their overwhelming strength in the 
polls.  Bayyati bemoaned the fact that Iraq currently was 
holding sectarian elections, rather than political ones. 
&Right now,8 said Bayyati, &the Iraqi people don,t 
understand the word  secularism,, just as they don,t 
understand  federalism.,8  He did hold out hope, however, 
that Iraqis eventually would become more politically savvy. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
7.  (C)  We are not sure of exactly what happened in Tuz 
Khurmatu with the Housing Minister.  Like other incidents 
along the fault lines between Iraqi ethnic groups, there are 
plenty of claims and counter-claims.  The incident serves to 
remind that there are other ethnic tensions beyond those 
involving Kurds and Arabs that simmer just below the surface 
of Iraqi society. 
KHALILZAD