Kurdish influx upsets volatile Iraqi oil city

…The settlements’ purpose is as blunt as their design: They are the heart of an aggressive campaign by the Kurds to lay claim to Kirkuk, which sits on one of the richest oil fields in the world. The Kurdish settlers have been moving into the area at a furious pace, with thousands coming in the past few months, sometimes with direct financing from the two main Kurdish political parties.

The campaign has emerged as one of the most volatile issues dogging the talks to form a new Iraqi government. In this region, it has ignited fury among Arabs and Turkmen, adding to already caustic tension in the ethnically mixed city, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

..No one doubts that peace would be easier to come by if it were not for the oil reserves, 10 to 20 percent of the Iraqi total. The oil is the economic fulcrum of the Kurdish drive to secure virtual independence for Iraqi Kurdistan. During the drafting of the permanent constitution last summer, Kurdish leaders in Baghdad managed to work in a clause that says this province, Tamim, will hold a referendum in 2007 to determine whether it should be ruled by the Kurdistan regional government or by the central authorities in Baghdad.

“Clearly, for the Kurds, Kirkuk is a strategic prize,” said Colonel David Gray, commander of the First Brigade of the 101st U.S. Airborne Division, charged with securing the province. “They feel very strongly about bringing their people to Kirkuk to right the wrong that was done under Saddam’s regime and the Arabization program. That does collide, of course, with the other groups in the province.”

International Herald Tribune