VZCZCXRO0826
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHMOS
DE RUEHKUK #0069/01 0831328
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O R 241328Z MAR 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0575
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD IMMEDIATE 0539
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0603

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIRKUK 000069 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BAGHDAD FOR POL, PAO, ROL COORDINATOR, NCT, IRMO, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/24/2016 
TAGS: PINS PGOV KDEM KCOR KISL IZ IR
SUBJECT: HALABJAH DISCONTENT SPARKS VIOLENCE, CRACKDOWN 
 
REF: KIRKUK 36 
 
KIRKUK 00000069  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting), REO 
Kirkuk, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY.  On March 16, protestors in 
Halabjah torched a museum erected to commemorate the March 16, 
1988, chemical weapons attack there.  Locals believe the PUK has 
largely used the Halabjah museum to extract foreign assistance, 
but failed to spend the funds on Halabjah.  Most protestors were 
students.  The government says one boy was killed; four were 
injured.  Acting Kurdistan Regional Government 
(KRG)-Sulaymaniyah Prime Minister Ahmad (PUK) blamed "outsiders" 
and Islamic militants for the violence.  Acknowledging public 
concerns about the rampant KRG corruption that reportedly 
sparked the protest, he pledged to address corruption.  He and 
the KDP, KIU, KIG, and Kurdistan Communist Party issued a joint 
statement on March 17 condemning the violence and setting up 
commissions to investigate it.  Police arrested 10 students and 
had already released some by March 18.  One source said that the 
Asayish were torturing the students in hopes of getting them to 
confess that Islamic radicals had caused the protest.  On March 
18, "Hawlati," the region's only major independent newspaper, 
called on the two major Kurdish parties (the PUK and KDP) to 
give up power.  PUK authorities immediately arrested the writer 
for defaming the PUK KRG but released him on March 19.  The PUK 
organized a counter protest March 20 and is blaming Islamists 
for the violence.  END INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. 
 
 
VIOLENCE ERUPTS 
--------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) As reported throughout the media, protestors in Halabjah 
on March 16 charged and torched the museum erected there to 
commemorate the March 16, 1988, chemical weapons attack. 
(Secretary Powell had attended the museum's opening on September 
15, 2003.)  RC(A) spoke March 18 with the freelance interpreter 
that the New York Times used for its March 17 story; REO has 
also spoken by phone with the Halabjah mayor and police chief. 
We have based our reconstruction of events on these sources; 
they largely confirm the media reports.  Locals believe the 
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Sulaymaniyah, dominated 
by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, has largely used the 
Halabjah museum as a method to extract foreign assistance, but 
then has not spent the funds on Halabjah. 
 
¶3.  (U) Angry over the lack of municipal services such as paved 
roads, a group of students planned a demonstration to counter 
this year's commemorations of the 1988 attack.  Protests were to 
include blocking Kurdish officials and foreign delegations 
(Japanese and Italian) from coming.  Organizers publicized the 
intended protest through graffiti.  Authorities had already 
closed schools and shops for the commemorations, giving 
protestors the opportunity to take to the streets.  Knowing the 
protestors were coming, the government amassed a large force of 
security personnel at the commemoration.  Media reports say 
protestors burned tires to block the town's main road. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) After security forces fired over the heads of the 
crowd, the protestors attacked the museum.  The freelance 
interpreter told RC(A) March 18 that most protestors were 
secondary and college students.  The government says one boy 
(usually reported as 17 years old) was shot and killed by the 
security forces during the attack on the museum; the government 
says four others were injured.  While the monument looks largely 
intact from a distance, the interpreter said fire and rioting 
had completely gutted the museum inside. 
 
 
OFFICIAL REACTION: ARRESTS AND BLAME 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Authorities held a press conference the same day 
(March 16) where acting KRG-Sulaymaniyah Prime Minister Emad 
Ahmad (PUK) blamed "outsiders" and Islamic militants for the 
violence.  He promised that the KRG would "try to address any 
defects and corruption that exist within the administration." 
He and representatives from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, 
Kurdistan Islamic Union, Kurdistan Islamic Group, and Kurdistan 
Communist Party issued a joint statement condemning the attack. 
They recommended setting up a commission from the parties "to 
calm the situation" and a commission of the government, parties 
and prominent persons to implement "the legitimate demands" of 
the residents.  This has not stopped the KRG-Sulaymaniyah (read 
the PUK) from blaming Islamic parties.  On March 23, speaking 
with Hawlati newspaper, the KRG-S's representative to Halabjah 
publicly accused the KIU and Kurdistan Democratic Solutions 
 
KIRKUK 00000069  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
Party (allied with the PKK) with fomenting the March 16 protest; 
both parties denied the charge. 
 
¶6.  (C) The interpreter and security officials said the police 
arrested 8-10 students during the protests; the interpreter said 
the police had already released one by March 18.  The 
interpreter (protect) said that the Asayish (Kurdish internal 
security forces) were torturing the students in hopes of getting 
them to confess that Islamic radicals had caused the protest. 
(We cannot verify this claim.) 
 
¶7.  (C) Crackdown.  The interpreter (protect) says PUK Asayish 
and Peshmerga blanketed the town after the attack on the museum. 
 He said that the Halabjah market was largely empty on March 18; 
most people stayed home, particularly students.  One car was 
shot when it -- our source says mistakenly -- failed to stop at 
a new checkpoint.  The passengers, a 57-year-old man and 
4-year-old boy, were injured and taken to the hospital.  Our 
source says the Asayish came to the hospital and tried to take 
the man away, but the hospital refused, saying he needed further 
medical attention.  The mayor told REO on March 23 that the 
security situation was now under control.  Hawlati newspaper 
reported March 23 that, in the wake of the sweep, KRG officials 
still were holding 40 people in connection with the protests. 
 
 
¶8.  (C) Media Protest.  "Hawlati," the region's only major 
independent newspaper, called March 18 for the two major Kurdish 
parties (the PUK and KDP) to give up power.  The paper has long 
skirmished with authorities (see reftel), and the head of 
security forces in Kou Senjaq confirmed to REO on March 19 that 
they arrested the paper's local correspondent and writer of the 
article, Hawez Hawezi, for defamation of the PUK KRG 
administration.  (KurdishMedia.com reported on March 18 that 
KRG-Sulaymaniyah PM Omar Fattah ordered the arrest.)  The head 
of Kou Senjaq security told REO March 19 they released Hawezi 
March 19, though the security chief said they could again take 
Hawezi into custody if their investigation demanded it. 
 
¶9.  (C) The Empire Strikes Back.  An embassy source said the PUK 
and the KDP bussed in supporters for a counter-protest March 20 
to condemn the March 16 attack on the museum.  (We have not 
gotten any information on the size of the counter-protest.)  The 
Sulaymaniyah branch of the PUK-backed "Kurdistan Islamic 
Scholars Union" publicly condemned the March 16 protest on March 
21, according to the Kurdistan Newe paper. 
 
 
PORTENT OF LARGER DISSATISFACTION 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (C) The interpreter, a secular, recent college graduate who 
is no fan of the PUK, said that the protests were sparked by 
local discontent with the Kurdish parties, not by Islamic 
radicals or foreigners.  He points to recent clashes with 
students in two other cities in Sulaymaniyah province: Kou 
Senjaq (septel) and Kalar.  He argues that the major Kurdish 
parties, though, want to pin the disruptions on the Islamic 
parties so as to avoid responsibility themselves and squeeze the 
Islamists. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  (C) Halabjah is not identical to the rest of Sulaymaniyah. 
Halabjah is near the Iranian border and some consider it more 
religious and more pro-Iranian than other places in the Kurdish 
region.  (Indeed, it was this reputation that led Saddam to 
brutally attack its helpless residents with chemical weapons.) 
Anti-PUK feelings thus may have an easier time surfacing there. 
 
¶12.  (C) That said, the public across the region is fed up with 
corruption and rightly blames the PUK and KDP.  Their 
heavy-handed control over two rival sets of media, economies and 
regional governments have led to anger and frustration that seek 
outlet in protest.  PUK (and KDP) leaders have confessed that 
corruption is a major problem for them, but seem to lack either 
the skill or the will to deal with it.  The fact that the 
protestors attacked a museum also underscores that the populace 
is beginning to tire of the two parties' demands that their past 
defense of the Kurds requires present-day obeisance.  Citizens 
instead want services now for continued political support.  In 
some ways, the parties are victims of their own success.  Now 
that the public no longer feels Kurds must depend on the two 
parties for day-to-day survival, voters are beginning to feel 
they have a wider range of political options. 
 
¶13.  (C) We do not know how much Islamists (either Iraqi or 
foreign) played a role in the Halabjah disturbances.  In 
 
KIRKUK 00000069  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
general, the Kurdistan Islamic Union and harder-line Kurdistan 
Islamic Group have played a skillful game, putting forward 
smooth-talking candidates and focusing on public services and 
anti-corruption, rather than religion.  The KDP joined with the 
PUK in condemning the violence, but -- without mentioning the 
PUK -- the KDP has not been above publishing articles in its 
Payamner news agency pointing out that a lack of public services 
was partly to blame. 
 
¶14.  (C) We have seen no signs that this week's events will spur 
reform of the KDP.  It could affect the internal PUK debate over 
whether to appeal to the party's past accomplishments or its 
future promises.  The PUK's knee-jerk arrest of the Hawlati 
writer, though, bespeaks a system still too used to repressing 
rather than responding to dissent. 
ORESTE