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Rift With Kurds Widens as Iraqi Leader Ousts Foreign Minister Rift With Kurds Widens as Iraqi Leader Ousts Foreign Minister
(35 minutes later)
BAGHDAD — The dangerous struggle between the leadership of Iraq and the country’s Kurdish minority intensified Friday, as the Kurds seized two oil-production facilities in Kirkuk Province and the prime minister announced that he was appointing a temporary replacement for the foreign minister. BAGHDAD — The dangerous struggle between the leadership of Iraq and the country’s Kurdish minority intensified Friday, as the Kurds seized two oil production facilities in Kirkuk Province and the prime minister announced that he was appointing a temporary replacement for the foreign minister.
The prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite, moved to replace the current foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, with Hussain Shahristani, a Shia from Mr. Maliki’s bloc. Mr. Maliki was responding to a decision by Mr. Zebari and other Kurdish cabinet members to boycott cabinet meetings in protest of Mr. Maliki’s searing criticism of the Kurds earlier this week. The prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite, moved to replace the current foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, with Hussain Shahristani, a Shiite from Mr. Maliki’s bloc. Mr. Maliki was responding to a decision by Mr. Zebari and other Kurdish cabinet members to boycott cabinet meetings in protest of Mr. Maliki’s searing criticism of the Kurds earlier this week.
In a televised address Wednesday, Mr. Maliki charged that the Kurds were harboring Sunni militant opponents of the central government and were even allowing members of the group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which swept through northern Iraq in June, to organize operations from Kurdistan. In a televised address on Wednesday, Mr. Maliki charged that the Kurds were harboring Sunni militant opponents of the central government and were even allowing members of the group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which swept through northern Iraq in June, to organize operations from Kurdistan.
The Iraqi leader asked the Kurds to “stop the operations room for ISIS” and said his government had “diagnosed the internal and external parties who supported the conspiracy that took place in Iraq,'’ implying that the Kurds were part of the problem.
The replacement of Mr. Zebari infuriated the Kurds, but it also appeared to solidify their resolve to move ahead with the constitutional procedure to select a new government, including a president, prime minister and Parliament speaker.The replacement of Mr. Zebari infuriated the Kurds, but it also appeared to solidify their resolve to move ahead with the constitutional procedure to select a new government, including a president, prime minister and Parliament speaker.
“With this step the prime minister doesn’t leave any room for power sharing,” said Faleh Mustapha, who serves as the foreign affairs minister for the Kurdish regional government — a separate position from that of Iraqi foreign minister. “Had our ministers resigned from the government or if we had withdrawn entirely from the government, it would be different, but we are still participating in the political process,” he said. “With this step, the prime minister doesn’t leave any room for power sharing,” said Faleh Mustapha, who serves as the foreign affairs minister for the Kurdish regional government — a separate position from that of Iraqi foreign minister. “Had our ministers resigned from the government or if we had withdrawn entirely from the government, it would be different, but we are still participating in the political process,” he said.
Iraq currently has a caretaker government, but lawmakers have been unable to agree on candidates to fill the job of the top positions. Although it is not stated in the Constitution, the speakership typically goes to a Sunni, the presidency to a Kurd and the prime minister slot to a Shiite. Each group has a number of factions that first must agree on a candidate, and then ensure that the candidate has at least the tacit approval of the majority of the members of other groups. The oil production facilities in Kirkuk Province, on the border of the Kurds’ semiautonomous region in the north, were previously run by the Iraqi government and had a primarily Arab staff. The fields were taken over at dawn by the Kurdish pesh merga soldiers, and the Arab employees were asked to leave, according to Iraq’s Oil Ministry and eyewitnesses in Kirkuk.
Mr. Maliki’s appointment of Mr. Shahristani, a former oil minister, as foreign minister was made public by Kurdish media and then confirmed by members of Parliament from Mr. Maliki’s bloc. By replacing the current foreign minister so quickly after the protest gesture of Kurdish cabinet members, Mr. Maliki was sending a clear message that he would not tolerate dissent from partners in the government, which includes members from each of the main sectarian and ethnic groups. “These two are among the main wells producing oil in Iraq,” said Assam Jihad, an Oil Ministry spokesman. “They are the spine of Iraq’s oil wealth and produce 400,000 barrels a day.”
The oil production facilities in Kirkuk Province, on the border of the Kurds’ semiautonomous region in the north, were previously run by the Iraqi government and had a primarily Arab staff. The fields were taken over at dawn by the Kurdish pesh merga soldiers, and the Arab staff members employees were asked to leave, according to Iraq’s oil ministry and eyewitnesses in Kirkuk.
“These two are among the main wells producing oil in Iraq,” said Assam Jihad, Iraq’s Oil Ministry spokesman. “They are the spine of Iraq’s oil wealth and produce 400,000 barrels a day.”
“Half of this production goes to the local market and the other half goes for export,” he said. “We condemn this constitutional breach and the violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”“Half of this production goes to the local market and the other half goes for export,” he said. “We condemn this constitutional breach and the violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
Iraq currently has a caretaker government, but lawmakers have been unable to agree on candidates to fill the top positions. Although it is not stated in the Constitution, the speakership typically goes to a Sunni, the presidency to a Kurd and the prime minister slot to a Shiite. Each group has a number of factions that first must agree on a candidate, and then ensure that the candidate has at least the tacit approval of the majority of the members of other groups.
Mr. Maliki’s appointment of Mr. Shahristani, a former oil minister, as foreign minister was made public by Kurdish media and then confirmed by members of Parliament from Mr. Maliki’s bloc. By replacing the current foreign minister so quickly after the protest gesture of Kurdish cabinet members, Mr. Maliki was sending a clear message that he would not tolerate dissent from partners in the government.