U.N. hopes for "grand deal" to resolve Iraq's Kirkuk

"We will present between September and October options for a grand deal for the disputed areas including Kirkuk, which is the hottest issue in Iraq these days," said Staffan de Mistura, representative in Iraq for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Twelve regions in northern Iraq, including oil-rich Kirkuk province, are currently disputed by various ethnic sects.

The dispute in Kirkuk has already stalled efforts to hold provincial elections throughout the country after parliament failed to pass an elections law because of divisions over Kirkuk this month.

Kirkuk, an ancient city that once was part of the Ottoman Empire, is home to Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds. Control over Kirkuk and the surrounding oil wealth is in dispute between the city's three ethnic groups.

Iraq’s parliament has proposed evenly dividing powers on the regional council between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen but the Kurds are bitterly opposed.

Turkey sees the final status of Kirkuk is another major concern, and thinks a hurried referendum, which already had been postponed, might have triggered ethnic clashes in Kirkuk.

The United Nations in June provided a report to Iraq’s presidency council on four of the regions -- Akra, Hamdaniyah and Mahmur in the restive province of Nineveh and Mandali in the violence-wracked central province of Diyala.

The reports on seven others will be given to the council by September, Mistura said. Among the seven, four regions are in Nineveh -- Tal Afar, Sinjar, Turke and Shaikhan.

The other disputed regions are Kifri in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, Khanakin in Diyala and Tuz in the central mainly Sunni Arab province of Salaheddin.

De Mistura said the U.N. was approaching these disputes by tackling the smaller regions first in a bid to finally resolve the controversial issue of Kirkuk.

"Its like getting to the hard core of the problem by addressing the soft areas as an example of political discussion," he told reporters at his office in Baghdad’s heavily fortified diplomatic area, the Green Zone.

This will prove that there is a "process of political give and take which applied to the easiest place" and "should in a way apply to the most difficult place which is Kirkuk," he added.

De Mistura said he hoped the U.N. proposals would be welcomed.

"What I am hoping is that by October the options that we will be coming up will be taken seriously, constructively by all parties," he said.

Thereafter "a political formula, compromise will be identified in order to give a peaceful and fair solution for the future of Kirkuk which then can be eventually sanctioned by a confirmatory referendum."

Photo: Reuters