Sunday, January 13, 2008

Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis Criticize Kurds

BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers across a wide political spectrum chastised what they claim is overreaching by the Kurdish north, issuing a declaration Sunday opposing the self-ruled region's foreign oil deals and its ambitions in the disputed city of Kirkuk.

The declaration avoided mentioning the Kurdish government by name, but could create a new source of tension between Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish groups, especially because a major Shiite party is now lobbying for the creation in southern Iraq of a self-ruled region modeled after the Kurdish one.

"There must be a formula for maintaining the unity of Iraq and the distribution of its wealth," said secular lawmaker Osama al-Nijifi, reading from the declaration at a news conference. "Oil and gas are a national wealth and we are concerned about those who want to go it alone when it comes to signing deals," he said.

The Kurds are a key group within the governing coalition and have been Washington's most reliable allies in Iraq. Since the ouster of Saddam Hussein they have forged a close relationship with the majority Shiites.

But recent assertive acts by the Kurds, such as the refusal to fly the Iraqi national flag in the region, have irritated the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad along with many Sunni Arabs. Many see such gestures and the recent oil deals as a threat to national unity.

Kurdish politicians are taking increasingly tough stands on the dispute over the fate of Kirkuk. Arab and Turkomen residents oppose the Kurdish claim to the city, 180 miles north of Baghdad..........

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