Tuz Khurmatu…..A model of complicated civil war in Iraq after Daesh

Tuz Khurmatu…..A model of complicated civil war in Iraq after Daesh

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Specter of sectarian and ethnic war is predominated  on a number of areas of Iraq known as the diversity of social composition, especially those disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan region of Iraq, such as Tuz Khurmatu  district in Salahuddin province, which its  social mosaic has become  as a powder keg ready to explode at any moment. The Tuz  district is  a model for the diversity of the demographics in Iraq,  noting  that from national perspective  , coexistent  inside it  nationalities of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, and ideologically coexistent inside it  Sunnis and Shiites. And  the war on Daesh  speed up  the pace of the conflict on a number of areas of Iraq, with the emergence of the desire of the parties to participate in that war to exploit it to change the currently accepted limits and   changing  of the map of control  on  the areas. Previously, the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani,  expressed it by saying, “The limits of the territory now  is drawing by blood.” The Peshmerga forces had seized control of the Tuz after the invasion of  the organization of  Daesh  in the summer of 2014 for many areas of Iraq, and its  control of them after the army’s withdrawal from it . But the problems began  to emerge in the city with the formation of the  crowd of popular Shiite Turkmen, and the subsequent tension between the two sides.

And the major  conflict is going on  now in Tuz known as “mini Kirkuk ” between Kurds and Shiites Turkmen  , located some 175 km north of Baghdad, noting that the  Kurds run  since 2003 the sensitive administrative and security joints  of  the city  whereas   Shiites  Turkmen formed , after the emergence of Daesh,  the popular crowd forces as a maneuver for the support of their nationality and Shiite doctrine. Although the Peshmerga forces has cooperated  with the popular crowd in restoring control over  the Amerli area that belongs to the district of Tuz in the month of August  of last year and  its retrieval   from  militants of  Daesh, but the coalition equation against Daesh   has recently turned into an internal  conflict between the two sides to extend their influence over the city .

It is worth noting  here that the violence was repeated almost monthly between allied armed groups reluctantly in the face of state regulation in Iraq and the Levant “Daesh”, since the expulsion of  the militants from towns and villages of the region in 2014.  in the last month of November ,  a quarrel was taken place  at a checkpoint extended into the city of Tuz between Turkmen fighters and elements of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, resulting in the burning of many houses and split the city into ethnic divide  ,  Turkoman areas and other Kurdish areas, and the displacement of the population  from it   according to this ethnic and sectarian division. And it saw in last April / May  a renewal of fighting between the Peshmerga and Shiite Turkmen  popular crowd.  The dispute has been contained   with fragile understandings  that  kept the  embers of conflict  burning and flammable at any moment.

This moving armed conflict  indicate  across parts of Iraq to the serious damage caused to the unity of Iraqi society  which is  known of its   diversity ,  that is a damage  heading towards the degree of explosion due to the existing chaos of weapons, and the large number of  irregular paramilitary organs , as well as the abundance of the tension factors of the sectarian and ethnic hostility  and    regional interventions that translate the size of  ambitions in weak Iraq . As  for those who interested in Iraqi affairs said that the specter of sectarian and ethnic war is to be expected and an indication of a threat to the ethnic sectarian conflict fueled by regional ambitions, and could be   the title of a phase  after the war on Daesh in Iraq, including the resulting of predominance of irregular forces , out of the state control, as opposite  to the decline of the status of   Iraqi armed  forces and the fall of its  prestige.

And officials of the Kurdish and Turkmen sides in the town of Tuz, expressed their  fears of a return to fighting again between the communities of the province, noting that the agreement, which was  made to calm the situation in last April / May  has not been implemented  except 10 percent of it only on the ground. The fighting  was ended with the last agreement between the parties includes a rebalancing of the communities in the police service and the popular crowd and Peshmerga in the city center, and  put  joint custody and checkpoints on both sides. Haitham Al-Mukhtar oglu, Turkmen Front official in the Iraqi province, said that “only 10 percent of the agreement have been implemented while the parties  , the popular crowd Turkmen and Kurdish Peshmerga  did not abide by the full terms.” And  oglu  told the Anatolia agency  that “abductions  were exchanged by power  holders in the city of two sides, which threatens the security of Tuz and fueling fears of a return to conflict between communities and nationalities. ” For his part, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Hassan Bahram,  said “there is no real implementation of the terms of the agreement between the parties, as the fighters of the popular crowd Turkmen did not withdraw  from the city, and the  process of balance within the police service  of communities  and nationalities of the city has not been implemented .”  Bahram added that “abductions of civilians began to spread in the city by    known and influential parties   speaking  in the name of the popular crowd and  must be deterrent to rebuild trust within the city. ”

Tuz district is considered a model for the diversity of the demographics in Iraq,  that is from the national perspective ,  nationalities coexist inside it including  the Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, and ideologically , the Sunni  and Shiites  coexist within it noting that the Turkmen are   distributed   from  a  sectarian  aspect  between the Shiite and Sunni sects(Mathhab).  The political , military , National  and religious movement of  Turkmen of  Tuz and Jalawla and Saadia  practiced a dual role.  Turkmenistan moveent  have , according to Kurdish sources, stretches outside the country, their source  in Ankara, including “Turkmen Front.” and regarding  the sectarian side , the Turkmen  popular crowd is Shiite , and is working in coordination with Ankara and Tehran.

According to  strategic analysts of  regional affairs, the interests of the two capitals according to their agenda  in transforming what is disputed in Iraq to the Shiite- Kurdish conflict through dragging the crowd to fight the Peshmerga. Kurdish circles  accuses Turkey  that have a great interest in creating a crisis in this region in order to weaken the Kurdistan region, which  Ankara declares its  friendship of some of its leaders but it harbors its suspicion of their seeking to establish an independent Kurdish state in the region.  These circles  do not  ignore  to recall that Iran’s interest is  also in the crowd struggle against Peshmerga “in order to weaken the Kurds in the south and their experience,” these sources believes that the popular crowd, which includes Shiite Turkmen aims to create a war between the Shiites and the Kurds, while the nationalists Turkmens are trying through their alliance with Arab nationalists to  transform the conflict to Arab-Kurdish conflict as well.

The future war  built on  sectarian and ethnic foundations in some of Iraq’s  cities diversified  ethnically and religiously  in a stage   after  Daesh  is  just a model of what has happened and  hit the Iraqi state and society after the ninth of  April 2003,  and  the thing that assisted to the weakness which could lead to tearing Iraq is  the  political  process based on    partisan , ethnic and sectarian quotas. this high level of conflict between the combatants in Tuz is  only an indication that the war on Daesh in Iraq may not be the final stage in the armed conflict in Iraq, and perhaps even be  an introduction to complicated  civil wars  with sectarian and nationalist character.

 

Rawabet Center for  Research and Strategic Studies