Arabs, Turks threaten mayor election boycott

ARABS and Turks in Iraq’s main northern oil city threatened yesterday to boycott a vote for mayor as an American general approved six final members of a city council charged with healing ethnic feuding that threatens the region’s stability.

Bitter squabbling prevented the six from being sworn in a day earlier, and the intervention by Major General Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, did little to calm ethnic passions that roiled the first meeting of the 30-person city council.

Arabs and ethnic Turks immediately threatened to boycott the expected vote for mayor, saying the post is certain to go to a Kurd.

American officers cautioned that the elections would be too important for the groups to boycott.

The Kirkuk region, which produces almost half of Iraq’s oil, is populated by an explosive mix of Kurds, Arabs, ethnic Turks and Christians. Ethnic tensions turned violent earlier this month when Kurds and Arabs fought, leaving about 11 people dead.

The Kirkuk city council, elected on Saturday by a group of 300 delegates approved by the U.S. military, reflects that mix.

Each of the four main ethnic groups elected six delegates from among their own.

Six independent delegates were also elected, but Arabs and Turks protested after it became clear those seats would be filled by five Kurds and one Christian.

The situation became so heated that Maj Gen Odierno, who is overseeing the balloting, intervened and said he would review the voting for the independents.