Kirkuk is common denominator between Sadr, Turkish leaders – analysts

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Political analysts agreed that the controversial issue of Kirkuk is the common denominator between Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr and Turkish leaders during their talks on Friday. A Kurdish analyst, however, believed that Sadr on this visit is assuming the role of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s unofficial envoy to coordinate stances with Turkey in order to press the Kurds and the UN on Kirkuk. “The Sadrist bloc is trying to find a foothold once again after capping a chapter of sectarian violence. This requires political activities at the regional and Arab levels. This is not strange because Sadr has already toured several Arab countries, let alone the fact that his Turkey visit was planned long ago and was even announced several months ago,” Abbas al-Yasseri, a political analyst, said. “The timing of the visit was based on several considerations, including the release of a UN report on Kirkuk, a bone of contention. The Turkish side wants to make sure that the ethnic Iraqi Turkmen in the city are not marginalized while the Sadrists deem the city as very important to keep as part of the Iraqi state, not that of Kurdistan,” Yasseri told IraqiNews.com news agency. He pointed out that the Turks “have shown great interest in Sadr’s visit as they know about the Sadrists’ stance regarding the issue of Kirkuk and perhaps this could offer a chance to unify positions on the city’s destiny.” “The Sadrist Movement, moreover, can benefit from the Turkish influence to return to the political pitch as a key player now that parliamentary elections are drawing near, in addition to withdrawal of foreign forces from the Iraqi cities in June,” Yasseri noted. Kurdish analyst Sami Shorash said Sadr, on this visit to Turkey, is an unofficial envoy for Maliki on the issue of Kirkuk. “The disputed areas are now subject to provisions and proposals included by the UN envoy Staffan De Mistura in his report to the central Iraqi and autonomous Kurdistan region governments,” Shorash said. “It is well known that the Iraqi government has reservations and rejections over the report’s content because it does not want to settle the disputed areas problem in accordance with article 140 of the constitution. That should explain why the Iraqi government looks at Turkey as an influential party on this issue and even seeks more support. Successive governments have previously tried to play the Turkey card in a bid to press the Kurds,” he added. Article 140 calls on the Arab population in the region to return to their native areas in central and southern Iraq while displaced Kurds return to Kirkuk. It also stipulates the fate of Kirkuk should depend on a census and subsequent referendum to allow citizens to decide if the city should fall within the jurisdiction of Erbil or Baghdad. Shiite and Sunni Muslims, along with Iraqi Turkmen, oppose the Kurdish proposal to incorporate Kirkuk into the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. The constitutional article was to be settled in December, though that deadline was extended to July. He told IraqiNews.com that the Iraqi government and hawkish parties in Iraq think the issue of Kirkuk is about to be solved soon and that was why they seek coordinated stances with Turkey to press the UN and Kurds. “This suggesses that Sadr’s visit mainaly revolved around this issue of Kirkuk bearing in mind that there is nothing in common between Sadr and the Turks,” Shorash believed. Contrary to Shoras, political observer Tareq al-Maamouri said Turkey is entiteld to play a regional role in the Middle East. “The growing stature of Iran as a most powerful and largest Shiite nation in the Islamic world requires the emergence of Turkey, the largest Sunni nation in the Islamic world, as a balance. Based on this concept, comes the Turkish interest in Sadr’s visit to say that it is present in the arena of Iraqi affairs,” Maamouri told Aswat al-Ir