Fleeing Iraqi Arabs get Kurds' cold
shoulder By Jason Motlagh
SULEYMANIYAH, Iraqi Kurdistan - Muhanad
Ayub faced a perplexing choice four months ago:
head west to Jordan or Syria like floods of other
refugees to escape the violence that paralyzed his
Baghdad suburb, or travel to a region described as
the "other Iraq" for a safe haven within national
borders.
Ayub, 32, gave up a part-time job
translating for an international rights
organization, which he says earned him numerous
death threats, and emigrated north to
Kurdish-controlled Iraq to start anew. Today he is
unemployed and fears being expelled from a
region where he says Arab
Iraqi migrants are relegated to the margins,
without work and due sympathy.
"There is
no life for us here, no work, no support,
nothing," he said. In his estimation, at least 50%
of the residents in the bleak apartment complex he
now calls home are Arab Iraqis in similar straits.
There are about 1.9 million internally
displaced Iraqis, according to the latest United
Nations figures, with upward of 2.7 million
expected by the end of this year. The Irbil-based
Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) says it has both
the capacity and the will to absorb those who come
knocking, so long as they meet strict criteria.
Emigres seeking to live in the region must
have a local resident who acts as a guarantor, on
arrival they are required to go to the KRG
residency officer to register with the government,
and all are obligated to return either every month
or quarterly to report their living status.
KRG officials insist such measures are
both fair and essential to preserve the peace that
holds in the north, noting that no coalition
troops have been killed or civilians kidnapped in
the region since the 2003 US-led invasion.
However, they concede that no amount of security
checkpoints and patrols could achieve this record
without vigilant cooperation from residents who
see stability and economic growth as a precursor
to an independent Kurdish state.
Lieutenant Rebwar Mohammad, an officer in
the regional police force, pointed out that entry
regulations have not stopped many Arab Iraqis from
moving to the region permanently. In addition to a
better quality of life, he said, the government
provides some with help in finding work and
housing. "We have our doors open to all Iraqis who
desire peace, regardless of their background. They
are protected here."
One Arab refugee from
Baghdad, Abbas Khafaji, whose uncle was killed by
Sunni gunmen, agrees. A Kurdish contact gave him a
job at a downtown Irbil hotel on arrival three
months ago that pays enough for him and his family
to live in safety. He calls himself "lucky" to
have found work in the growing service sector,
with no plans of leaving any time soon.
Since gaining autonomous status under the
Iraqi constitution, the KRG has tried to reach out
beyond national borders to attract foreign
investment to build infrastructure in sectors
ranging from to tourism. A promotional hook on the
official website reads: "Welcome to Iraqi
Kurdistan, where democracy has been practiced for
more than a decade. It's not a dream. It's the
other Iraq."
No precise figures exist as
to how many Arab Iraqis - Muslims and Christians
alike - have fled to the Kurdish region, but they
number in the thousands. Sulaymaniyah has long
been a center of Kurdish nationalism, and some
Kurds are troubled by the steady influx of
immigrants, fearing that a surge in crime may
follow.
"When things were miserable here
under Saddam [Hussein], we didn't all run to
Baghdad and beg for help. We took care of
ourselves," said Amed Shkak, a taxi driver. "Why
should we give up jobs for Arabs when we've worked
so hard to create a future for the Kurdish people?
Our suffering was as bad."
Ali, a former
officer in the peshmerga forces who spent
six years hiding in Iran at the height of the
Hussein regime's crackdown on ethnic Kurds, is
convinced hostilities may one day break out in the
north between Kurds and Arabs if coalition forces
withdraw and the country descends into anarchy.
Two potential flashpoints are already showing
signs of worse to come.
The northern city
of Mosul, about 50 kilometers west of Irbil, is a
combustible mix of 70% Arabs and 30% Kurds. It
remains an outpost of Sunni insurgent activity
uncomfortably close to the edge of the Kurdish
region. Still more troubling is oil-rich Kirkuk,
which the KRG would like to annex into its
territory amid mounting sectarian violence.
Analysts say such an economic windfall would give
the Kurds greater confidence to move toward
independence, a fate neither Turkey nor Arab
Iraqis would idly accept.
Saddam forcibly
removed 250,000 Kurds from Kirkuk during the 1970s
to Arabize the city, but as many as 350,000 have
relocated there. The Iraqi constitution mandates
that a referendum on control of Kirkuk must be
held by the end of this year, with Kurds expected
to win. A recent report from the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy asserted that
"Kirkuk is as likely as Baghdad to produce a
calamity that can fracture Iraq", recommending a
delay of the referendum.
In the Kurdish
region, oil revenues from Baghdad remain Iraqi
Kurdistan's main source of income and fuel a
construction boom that is attracting more and more
workers from abroad. This adds to the frustration
of some emigres looking for a better lot.
Ayub insists that Arab Iraqi refugees such
as himself are first entitled to benefit from the
relative prosperity, rather than be made to feel
like outsiders in their own country.
"It's
like the mafia here - the government takes without
giving back," he said. "This is still Iraq, and we
deserve to live here like everybody else."
Jason Motlagh is deputy foreign
editor at United Press International in
Washington, DC. He has reported freelance from
Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean for various
US and European news media.
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