With flute, drum and dance, Kurds celebrate the election of their candidate, Abdul Rahman Mustafa, as interim mayor of Kirkuk, Wednesday. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
With flute, drum and dance, Kurds celebrate the election of their candidate, Abdul Rahman Mustafa, as interim mayor of Kirkuk, Wednesday. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Chief judge of Kirkuk Noradeen Ali Fatwhulla, left, swears in Abdul Rahman Mustafa, a Kurd, as interim mayor of Kirkuk, and Ismail Ahmed Rejeb, an Arab, as deputy mayor during a ceremony at the government building in Kirkuk on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
KIRKUK, Iraq — Kurds danced in the streets outside of the U.S. military’s northern Iraq headquarters on Wednesday after witnessing not only the birth of a new age of democracy, but also the election of a Kurd as Kirkuk’s first-ever mayor.
For weeks now, U.S. military leaders laid the groundwork for an interim government to run the northern Iraqi city, setting up a system of 30 council members that will be headed by a mayor, deputy mayor and three assistant mayors.
“This is a true historical moment for the future of Kirkuk,” Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division and commander of Coalition Forces Northeast Iraq, said before the swearing-in of the mayor and vice mayor. “This is the first time in over 30 years you have the freedom to determine the future of Kirkuk.”
The council of 30 was trimmed Saturday from a pool of 300 candidates by the candidates themselves and includes six members chosen by U.S. military officials to give the council some balance. The new council gathered Tuesday to elect its new leaders.
Abdul Rahman Mustafa, a Kurdish lawyer born and raised in Kirkuk, won the mayoral seat by a vote of 20-10, beating Mustafa Kemal Yaycili, a Turkman.
In spite of his ethnic background, Mustafa vowed to run the city as an independent in order to keep the new democratic government operational.
“It was a very difficult period because there were difficulties between the ethnicities,” Mustafa said through an interpreter. “But I want unity for all ethnicities in Kirkuk.”
Several factions threatened to boycott the election process. Without reliable census data, the Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs all insist they make up the majority of the population.
The Kurds initially threatened to boycott because they wanted a guaranteed majority on the council.
The Arabs and Turkmen threatened to walk away from the process because five of the six council members selected by the U.S. military officials are Kurds.
But all showed up to cast their respective votes.
“Hey, we’ve got ourselves a government and nobody walked away,” said an elated Ed Erickson, a retired lieutenant colonel who volunteered to serve as the political adviser to Odierno. Erickson, a high school government teacher, has studied for years the politics of the Middle East, primarily Turkey, and has written three books on the topic.
Odierno gave the new council a bit of advice for its first meeting Sunday: “Begin your new work with issues you all can agree on — public safety, schools, public health,” he said from the podium in the government building in downtown Kirkuk. On other [issues] like resettlement, wait until you can look at that with objective, rather than emotional, eyes.”
Ismail Ahmed Rejeb, an Arab, was elected deputy mayor, garnering 19 of the council’s votes.
The assistant mayors are Sargon Lazar, an Assyrian who will oversee the office of future government design; Irfan Gemal Kirkukli, a Turkman who will oversee the office of de-Baathification; and Hasib Osman Rozbayni, an independent Kurd who will oversee the resettlement and compensation programs.
