Divisions dog Kurdish attempts to unify

IRBIL, Iraq — For centuries, the mountains were the Kurds' only friend, as their saying goes. They endured the repression of stronger neighbors and saw their lands carved up and made parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Now, in an ironic twist, Iraqi Kurds have emerged as the power brokers holding this country together.

The leaders of the two main Kurdish political parties, dismissed not that long ago as mere warlords, are courted by the Americans, and they have been key mediators between Iraq's bickering Sunni and Shiite Muslim Arabs in negotiations to form a coalition government.

Yet Kurdish leaders don't enjoy that same respect among their own people. Kurds are complaining about the economy and corruption. They wonder whether deep divisions among their people can be bridged.

It's not even possible to make a telephone call between Irbil and Sulaymaniyah — cities 95 miles apart that are the capitals of the two rival Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq. Differing dialects separate Kurds across the region, making it difficult to have a unified school curriculum.

Politicians are upbeat. They say the amalgamation this year of the administrations of the two major parties — Massoud Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party and Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan — will bring the two Kurdish regions closer.

"It's the best time for Kurds since the First World War," said Adnan Mufti, speaker of the Kurdistan regional parliament.

Everyday people are skeptical.

Kurds have a reputation of being master politicians but terrible administrators, and corruption is widespread in the region. That has many people complaining that the union of the Kurdistan administrations will mainly protect powerful financial interests.

"It's a unity between the leaders of the two parties to preserve the status quo," said Sardar Mohammed, an elementary school teacher in Sulaymaniyah.

Kurdistan has flourished in many ways since it came under U.S.-British protection in 1991 to stop a brutal crackdown by Saddam Hussein's army after the Gulf War.

In contrast to the rest of Iraq, hotels, offices, houses and apartment buildings are going up at a frenzied pace. Irbil and Sulaymaniyah boast new airports.

Kurds, who are ethnically distinct from Iraq's majority Arabs, are returning from exile. Even Arabs are moving in, many of them professionals seeking escape from the violence and crime that afflict many parts of the south.