VZCZCXRO9668
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #1244 1001250
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101250Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0670
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0390

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 001244 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM TU IZ
SUBJECT:  CREATION OF SUPREME POLITICAL COUNCIL OF KURDISTAN 
 
 
This is a Kurdistan Regional Reconstruction Team (RRT) cable. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Recent Kurdish media reports have announced the creation 
of the "Supreme Political Council of Kurdistan," under the auspices 
of KRG President Massoud Barzani and including representatives of a 
wide range of KRG political parties and ethnic groups.  These media 
reports, however, contained no details about the purpose of the 
Council or how it would operate. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In a meeting with KRG Minister and Director of Foreign 
Affairs Falah Mustafa Bakir on April 5, IPAO inquired about the 
purpose and membership of the Council.  Falah said that the Council 
would be made up of the "Number One" leader from each of the KRG 
political and ethnic groups.  He said that the Council is expected 
to have about 20 members, and is still in the process of formation - 
it has not met yet.  According to Falah, one reason that it has not 
done so is that the Turkomans and Chaldeans have still not picked 
their representatives.  Because five of six small parties represent 
each of these ethnic groups, they are only being allowed two 
representatives each, and they must agree among themselves who to 
select. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The idea behind the Council is, said Falah, "to have more 
than two parties running everything." As currently conceived, the 
Council will have both an advisory and a decision making role and 
will allow input from groups across the KRG political spectrum. 
Falah did not indicate when the Council is expected to become 
operational. 
 
¶4.   (SBU) COMMENT: It seems likely that the Council has at least in 
part been created to help assuage the fears of Turkoman and other 
ethnic minorities outside the KRG that they will not have a voice in 
the KRG government if their province or district joins the KRG under 
the Article 140 process. In any event, we doubt that the two 
dominant KRG parties, the KDP and PUK, will cede real power to the 
Council.