Thursday, January 27, 2005
Kirkuk, a big salad and a zippo lighter I found onto which someone had scratched "SATAN"
Saddam Hussein significantly increased the Arab population in Kirkuk by moving Arabs into the city and forcing Kurds to move into various Arab dominated areas. It was called "Arabization".
Now that Hussein's regime is gone, many of the displaced Kurds feel it is their right to have property that was confiscated at unfair prices returned to them. Many of the Arabs that were moved there have come to feel they are the rightful owners - indeed, many were born there after the "Arabization". My brother's childhood friend wrote a lengthy essay in the New Yorker about the contentious conundrum.
Along with the parliamentary elections, residents of Kirkuk will have local elections and each of the three ethnic groups in the city - Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen - claim to be the majority and are already accusing each other of stealing the election. Kurds who were forcibly relocated during the Hussein regime will be voting as if they lived in Kirkuk and Turkey says a Kurdish victory in the election would pose a security problem for Turkey.
Oh yeah, Kirkuk has a lot of oil for persons of all ethnic persuasions to worry about.
// posted by Erik @ 1/27/2005 04:56:00 PM
permalink
| email post: 
