Protests target Kurds' Iraq demands

BAGHDAD — More than 1,000 Sunni Arabs and Turkomen rallied Saturday against Kurdish demands to incorporate the oil-rich area around Kirkuk into their autonomous region on the eve of a special session of parliament aimed at defusing the crisis.

The dispute over Kirkuk and its vast oil wealth has blocked passage of legislation providing for provincial elections this year, a major U.S. goal aimed at reconciling Iraq's rival ethnic and religious communities.

Protesters in the town of Hawija, west of Kirkuk, carried banners rejecting Kurdish demands for control of Kirkuk, said Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir of the Kirkuk police.

The rally ended without any violence, but residents said the atmosphere was tense in Kirkuk, where a suicide bomber killed 25 people Monday during a Kurdish protest.

Last month, Iraq's parliament approved legislation to hold elections for local councils in all 18 provinces, including Tamim, where Kirkuk is located.

The measure said seats on the ruling council in the Kirkuk area should be divided equally among Kurds, Turkomen and Arabs. It would also transfer security responsibilities in Kirkuk to mostly Arab military units brought from central and southern Iraq instead of those already there — an apparent move against Kurdish peshmerga troops heavily deployed in the area.

But Kurds and their allies, who currently hold a majority on the council, oppose the power-sharing formula. Iraq's three-member presidential council rejected the measure and sent it back to parliament after President Jalal Talabani — a Kurd — opposed it.

Parliament adjourned for a one-month summer recess last week but agreed to hold a special session today to try to resolve the standoff and approve a new election bill. Electoral officials have said failure to pass the bill could delay the nationwide vote until next year.

The United Nations has recommended postponing provincial elections in Kirkuk as a way of ensuring the balloting elsewhere in the country.

It was unclear, however, whether the Kurds would agree to the U.N. proposal. Many Iraqi Arabs and Turkomen believe control of Kirkuk could encourage Kurds to declare full independence for their self-ruled region.

Iraqi politicians held meetings Saturday in hopes of narrowing differences before today's parliament session. But little sign of compromise emerged.

Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman told The Associated Press that the Kurds were strongly opposed to the quota system for the council and to bringing in soldiers from elsewhere because it cast doubt "on the honesty and the loyalty of the current security force in Kirkuk."