BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurdish security forces took over two
major oil fields outside the disputed northern city of Kirkuk before
dawn Friday and said they would use some of the production for domestic
purposes, further widening a split with the central government of Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The takeover of the Bai Hassan and
Kirkuk oil fields were the latest land grabs by Kurds, who have
responded to the Sunni militant insurgency that has overrun large parts
of Iraq by seizing territory of their own, effectively expanding the
Kurdish autonomous zone in the north. Those moves have infuriated
al-Maliki’s government while stoking independence sentiment among the
Kurds.
Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga pushed into the city of
Kirkuk, a major hub for the oil industry in the north, and the
surrounding area weeks ago in the early days of the Sunni militant
blitz. But until now they had not moved into the oil fields in the area.
On Friday, however, the fighters took over the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk
fields and expelled local workers, the Oil Ministry in Baghdad said.
Oil
Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad denounced the move as "a violation to
the constitution" and warned that it poses "a threat to national unity."
The
Kurdish Regional Government said its forces moved to secure the fields
after learning of what it said were orders by officials in the Oil
Ministry to sabotage a pipeline linking oil facilities in the area. It
said production would continue, and that staff can return but will
operate under Kurdish management.
Production from the fields will
be used to fill the shortage of refined products in the domestic market,
it said, in a reference to a fuel crunch in the Kurdish region. It also
said the Kurdish Regional Government will claim its "constitutional
share" of revenues from the fields to compensate for Baghdad’s cutting
off the 17 percent of the state budget — some $20 billion in this year’s
projected budget — that is supposed to be given to the Kurdish region.
The
central government withheld the funds after the Kurds began moving oil
from fields inside the autonomous zone to Turkey independently against
Baghdad’s wishes.
The Kurds have said their earlier moves into
disputed lands were intended to protect the areas from Sunni militants
after the collapse of the Iraqi military in the face of the insurgency
the past month. But the territory they seized has large Kurdish
communities and has long been claimed by the autonomy zone.
In
past weeks, the president of the Kurdish zone has said the areas won’t
be returned — including the highly disputed, flashpoint city of Kirkuk —
and he called for Kurdish lawmakers to prepare to hold an independence
referendum in the area, a move strongly opposed by Baghdad and the
United States. Sunni Arabs and ethnic Turkmens who also claim Kirkuk as
theirs have warned of a backlash if Kurds try to monopolize the oil in
the region.
The Kurds and Baghdad have feuded for years over oil
resources, disputed territory and a host of other issues. Yet, they have
also found room for compromise, and the Kurds have provided critical
backing to help al-Maliki become prime minister.
But their ties
are rapidly unraveling as the country fragments in the face of the Sunni
militant blitz, led by the Islamic State extremist group. The country
is effectively being cleaved along ethnic and sectarian lines — the
swath of militant-held Sunni areas, the Shiite-majority south and center
ruled by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and the Kurdish north.
The
conflict has also fueled fears of sectarian bloodshed between Shiites
and Sunnis. On Friday, Human Rights Watch said Iraqi security forces and
government-affiliated militias appear to have killed at least 255
prisoners in six cities and villages since June 9. It said five of the
mass killings took place as the security forces were fleeing as
militants advanced, and that the vast the prisoners killed were Sunni.
Most members of the security forces and militias are Shiite.
The six incidents appear to be aimed at avenging the deaths of Shiites captured and killed by the Islamic
State group.
The
Kurds also find themselves fighting the Sunni militants across the
northern front. On Friday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a
peshmerga checkpoint outside Kirkuk, killing 13 people and wounding 23,
police and hospital officials said on condition of anonymity because
they weren’t authorized to brief the media.
In recent days, the
political divisions between Baghdad and the Kurds have grown
increasingly bitter. On Wednesday, al-Maliki accused the Kurds of
harboring Sunni militants.
The Kurds responded by declaring their politicians will boycott Cabinet meetings, renewing demands that
al-Maliki step down.
Baghdad,
in turn, suspended all cargo flights to the Kurdish region’s two main
airports. And on Friday, al-Maliki appointed temporary replacements for
all five Kurdish ministers in his Cabinet, said Deputy Prime Minister
Hussain al-Shahristani.
Al-Shahristani said he himself was
appointed acting foreign minister to stand in for Hoshyar Zebari, who
was one of the most prominent Kurds in the government and has been
Iraq’s top diplomat for more than a decade.
The dispute comes as
al-Maliki is struggling to fend off an attempt to remove him from his
post by political factions — including the Kurds but also from former
Shiite allies who blame him for the failures to confront the Sunni
militant offensive and have long accused him of monopolizing power.
In
Baghdad, national lawmakers are struggling broker an agreement on a new
government and leadership, including the posts of prime minister,
president and speaker of parliament, after April elections.
The
legislature is scheduled to meet Sunday for its second session amid
calls for the quick formation of a new government that can confront the
militants and hold the country together. Al-Maliki, whose State of Law
bloc won the most seats in the elections, has shrugged off calls to step
aside.
The United States and other world powers, as well as
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, have pressed for a more inclusive government
that Iraqis of all stripes can rally around.
On Friday, Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani again urged lawmakers to move swiftly toward a
compromise, calling on them to "rise above selfish aims."
"The
challenges … threaten civil peace and the unity of the social fabric
and forecast a divided and disputed future for Iraq," Abdul-Mahdi
al-Karbalaie, a cleric who represents the reclusive al-Sistani, told
worshippers in a sermon Friday in the holy city of Karbala.
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Associated
Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Ryan Lucas in Baghdad, and Maamoun
Youssef and Mariam Rizk in Cairo contributed to this report.