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PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 151428Z JUL 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0678
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0640
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0706

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIRKUK 000124 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  7/15/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PNAT PREF PREL PBTS KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: (U) KURDISTAN REFERENDUM MOVEMENT LEADERS DISCUSS 
ORGANIZATION GOALS, INDEPENDENCE 
 
 
KIRKUK 00000124  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Tim Uselmann, Political Officer, IPAO, Department 
of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (a), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY:  IPAO on July 3 met with 
leaders of 
the Kurdistan Referendum Movement (KRM) to discuss the structure 
of the 
organization, its current political goals, and future plans for a 
referendum on Kurdistan independence.  (Note:  the KRM was 
responsible 
for an unofficial poll during the January 2005 national and 
provincial 
elections, in which allegedly 98 percent of Iraqi Kurds voted for 
independence. A group of Kurdish intellectuals organized the KRM 
in July 
2003 to push for the right of Iraqi Kurds to hold a referendum to 
determine their future political status.   The proposed 
referendum would 
present Iraqi Kurds with only two choices, to remain part of 
Iraq or to 
secede to form an independent Kurdistan nation.  End note.) 
Attending 
the meeting were four heads of the KRM "high committee" in 
Sulaymaniyah, 
Fattah Khalil, Tahir Hassan, Shukriyah Hussein, and Mohabad 
Mohamed-Amin.. END INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
 
(C) HISTORY AND STRUCTURE OF THE REFERENDUM MOVEMENT 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶2.  (C) IPAO on 3 July 2006 met with KRM leaders to discuss their 
organization's history and structure, political leanings, and 
future 
goals.  The movement developed following Operation Iraqi Freedom 
from 
Kurdish concerns about Coalition plans for the Middle East as a 
whole 
and for the Kurds in particular.  A group of Iraqi Kurdish 
intellectuals 
met in Sulaymaniyah in July 2003 to establish a plan for Iraqi 
Kurds to 
determine their own destiny, a movement which soon spread to 
several 
cities in Kurdistan as well as to Kirkuk, Mosul and other areas. 
 The 
KRM held its first conference in Arbil in December 2003, after 
which the 
KRM collected over 2 million signatures to present to the Iraqi 
Transitional Government, the United Nations and the Coalition 
Forces to 
demand that Iraqi Kurds be given the right to hold a referendum 
to 
decide their future political status in Iraq.  With the second 
conference, held in March 2005, the KRM became an official 
Non-Government Organization.  A third conference is being 
organized to 
meet in Arbil in late July or early August 2006, during which 
members 
will meet to chart the future course of the organization. 
Currently, 
the KRM is organized around 8-member "high committees" located in 
Kirkuk, Mosul, Dohuk, Sulaymaniyah, Arbil, and Khanaqin. 
Beneath the 
high committees are local "coordination committees" for each of 
which at 
least one member must also be a member of the high committee. 
The 
coordination committee is responsible for mobilizing the Kurdish 
people 
for demonstrations or any referendum action.  The KRM leaders 
claim to 
have coordination committees in nearly every village and town of 
the 
Kurdish areas in Iraq. 
 
(C) INDEPENDENT -- BUT TO WHAT DEGREE? 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶3.  (C) The representatives asserted the KRM has no plans to 
become a 
legitimate political party to run against the Kurdistan 
Democratic Party 
(KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and has no formal 
connection with the two main Kurdish parties.  The members also 
claim 
 
KIRKUK 00000124  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
that the KRM maintains its independence and that the 
organization is not 
associated with any specific party, although KRM members come 
from many 
political parties to include the KDP and PUK.  This independence 
permits 
the KRM to move across political sectors and garner wide public 
support. 
The leaders noted, however, that the KRM has relied on the 
Kurdistan 
Regional Government (KRG), and by extension the KDP and PUK, for 
much of 
its security, transportation, and funding since the elections in 
January.   (Note:  according to anecdotal reports, the KRM was 
created 
with the consent of the two main Kurdish parties, allegedly to 
assist 
Kurdish leaders during negotiations with Baghdad by permitting 
them to 
point to Kurdish popular sentiment in favor of secession and 
independence.  End note.)  The members also cited several 
parties whose 
goals are closely aligned with those of the KRM, such as the 
Kurdistan 
Toilers Party, the Kurdistan Social Democratic Party, and the 
Kurdistan 
Islamic Union. 
 
 
(C) PLATFORM OF ANTI-CORRUPTION, FREE PRESS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) The KRM leaders staunchly support recent KDP and PUK 
efforts at 
political reform and ending corruption in the Kurdish region. 
As a 
popular movement, the KRM members claim they are able to 
mobilize a 
groundswell of public sentiment to achieve genuine party reforms. 
According to the representatives, the KRM recently supported the 
PUK 
establishing an Office of Questions, which is responsible for 
investigating any reports of corruption or abuse on the part of 
PUK 
officials.  The KRM is also behind efforts to campaign against 
suppression of free press and maintains close ties with the 
regional 
media. 
 
 
(C) SIGNATURES, ARTICLE 140, AND REMOVING THE "NEW ARABS" 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶5.  (C) The KRM members said their organization would address 
several 
issues immediately.  Currently, the KRM is collecting signatures 
internationally to recognize Kurdistan's right to hold a 
referendum on 
independence.  The KRM will now begin collecting signatures in 
Kurdistan 
to legitimize this right to the new Iraqi government.  Like other 
Kurdish groups, the KRM leaders are turning their attention to 
implementation of Article 140, believing that Kirkuk and other 
disputed 
areas, from Khanaqin to Mosul, are part of the Kurdistan region. 
 The 
KRM leaders stated that so-called "new Arabs" or "settlers" have 
committed human rights violations and must return to their 
places of 
origin as part of implementing Article 140.  None of the KRM 
members 
present indicated any faith in the new prime minister, stating 
that like 
Jafari, Maliki is a Shia so he will naturally oppose Article 140 
and 
make unilateral decisions from Baghdad that are designed to 
distract 
from normalization of Kirkuk.  The KRM representatives also 
noted that 
the federal constitution does not protect the rights of Kurds. 
The new 
KRG constitution is supposed to protect Kurdish rights but does 
not 
enshrine Kurdistan's right to self-determination, which the KRM 
claims 
is one reason the draft has not yet been ratified.  The members 
alleged 
the KRM mobilized popular support to amend the KRG constitution 
to 
include language on self-determination. 
 
 
KIRKUK 00000124  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
(U) COMMENT 
----------- 
 
¶6.  (C) If effective in mobilizing public support for a 
referendum on 
independence, the KRM's coordination committees, connections with 
regional media, and platform of anti-corruption and party reform 
could 
constitute a potential recipe to radically alter the current, 
more 
moderate, tenor of Kurdish politics with little warning. 
Although the 
KRM apparently lacks the necessary resources to launch a 
large-scale 
campaign to challenge the two main parties, the KRM publicly 
backing one 
of the alternative Kurdish parties, such as the KIU, could 
transform 
Kurdish politics and bring the independence issue to the fore 
during the 
referendum on Kirkuk and upcoming provincial elections. 
JBIGUS