Building Everyday Peace in Kirkuk, Iraq
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SIPRI Policy Paper BUILDING EVERYDAY 52 PEACE IN KIRKUK, September 2019 IRAQ The potential of locally focused interventions dylan o’driscoll STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. The Governing Board is not responsible for the views expressed in the publications of the Institute. GOVERNING BOARD Ambassador Jan Eliasson, Chair (Sweden) Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar (Indonesia) Dr Vladimir Baranovsky (Russia) Espen Barth Eide (Norway) Jean-Marie Guéhenno (France) Dr Radha Kumar (India) Dr Patricia Lewis (Ireland/United Kingdom) Dr Jessica Tuchman Mathews (United States) DIRECTOR Dan Smith (United Kingdom) Signalistgatan 9 SE-169 72 Solna, Sweden Telephone: + 46 8 655 9700 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.sipri.org Building everyday peace in Kirkuk, Iraq The potential of locally focused interventions SIPRI Policy Paper No. 52 dylan o’driscoll September 2019 © SIPRI 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of SIPRI or as expressly permitted by law. ISBN 978-91-85114-99-3 Contents Preface v Acknowledgements vi Summary vii Abbreviations ix 1. Introduction 1 Aim of this paper 4 Theoretical framework 5 Methodology 6 Figure 1.1. The geopolitical position of Kirkuk, hydrocarbon reserves, 2 and pipelines Figure 1.2. The ethnosectarian make-up of survey participants 6 2. Background: Relations between ethnosectarian groups in Kirkuk 8 3. Local-level peacebuilding opportunities in Kirkuk 12 Language 12 Relations between different ethnosectarian groups 17 Acts of everyday conflict 18 Use of space 21 Privilege 27 Figure 3.1. The languages spoken by customers 13 Figure 3.2. The language spoken by shopkeepers to customers who have a 13 different primary language Figure 3.3. The language spoken by customers to shopkeepers who have a 14 different primary language Figure 3.4. Customer and shopkeeper interaction with members of other 14 ethnosectarian groups Figure 3.5. Customer interaction with members of other 16 ethnosectarian groups Figure 3.6. Customers’ and shopkeepers’ perceived freedom of action in 16 the bazaar Figure 3.7. The frequency with which customers wear items that show their 20 ethnosectarian identity Figure 3.8. Where customers celebrate holidays 20 Figure 3.9. How male and female customers socialize in the bazaar 22 Figure 3.10. Male and female customers’ perceived freedom of action in 22 the bazaar Figure 3.11. Male and female customers’ interactions with members of 24 other groups Figure 3.12. Female customers’ interactions with members of other 24 ethnosectarian groups Figure 3.13. Customers’ opinions on which group has the most influence 26 in Kirkuk Figure 3.14. Customers’ likely conversation choices when speaking with 26 people from other groups Figure 3.15. Customers’ perceived freedom of action in the bazaar 28 Figure 3.16. Selected customers’ reactions to an insult by a member of 28 another group 4. Conclusions and recommendations 31 Recommendations for education 31 Recommendations for use of space 32 Recommendations for policing 33 Preface Contemporary Iraq is scarred by decade upon decade of violent conflict—civil war between the state and Kurdish groups, interstate war with Iran in the 1980s and with US-led coalitions in 1991 and 2003, civil wars again in the years since 2003 through the rise and demise of Islamic State. The legacies of these conflicts have created a profound need for concerted efforts towards reconciliation and peacebuilding. Kirkuk, the focus of this paper, is one area where the need is especially acute. Kirkuk’s importance in Iraq is defined, as the paper argues, by its oil reserves, its demography and its strategic position. Its status, accordingly, was directly addressed in Iraq’s constitution of 2005. Nonetheless, against a background of protracted conflict over the control of Kirkuk, it remains one of the disputed territories whose boundaries are contested. Combined, these elements mean peacebuilding efforts in Kirkuk are of key importance. However, political actors in Kirkuk, the central government, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have repeatedly failed to reach a political agreement on the future of the province. There have been significant international efforts to help reach an agreement among the leaderships of the different groups. Political deadlock has nonetheless persisted. The local population has suffered the most as a result. The field of peacebuilding is relatively new in both the study of con ducive conditions for sustainable peace and in policy. Recently, there has been a growing interest in efforts to improve the everyday lives of the population in conflict and post-conflict societies. Peacebuilding at the local everyday level can bring people together, improve their lives, reduce everyday conflict and help establish a better basis for reaching a high-level settlement. It also provides many opportunities for peacebuilding efforts to affect positive change. This paper takes a local turn to the study of peace and conflict in Kirkuk, examin ing opportunities and providing recommendations for peacebuilders to focus interventions on the local everyday level. As such it represents a shift in research on Kirkuk, which up until now has focused heavily on the elite level. Through using the bazaar as a site of study this paper offers a unique insight into the daily interactions in Kirkuk and gives a much-needed understanding of community relations and the factors that influence them, as the basis for practical policy recommendations. Dan Smith Director, SIPRI Stockholm, September 2019 Acknowledgements First, a special thanks is owed to all the participants in the Kirkuk bazaar who made this research possible. In addition, I would like to thank the Social Science Research Council, the Conflict Research Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development for funding the research. I would like to thank Shivan Fazil for his help in managing and organizing the fieldwork; thanks is also owed to Kokar for giving me access to its network of enumerators, and to the enumerators for conducting the survey in Kirkuk. I would like to thank Dan Smith, Dr Gary Milante, Dr Birte Vogel, Dr Marina Caparini, Khogir Wirya, Luc van de Goor, Yeonju Jung and Dr Magdalena Mikulak for their feedback on this paper. However, any errors or flaws remain my responsibility alone. I would also like to thank Juneseo Hwang for his valuable work and patience in creating the initial graphs. Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank the communications and editorial team at SIPRI for its help in producing and disseminating the final product, particularly Joey Fox for all her help in guiding the process, Amanda Morgan and Annika Salisbury for their editorial work, and Frank Esparraga for creating the graphs and finalizing the paper. I would also like to thank Stephanie Blenckner, Harri Thomas, Alexandra Manolache, Shannen Young and John Batho. This research is also a publication of the Conflict Research Programme hosted at the London School of Economics. This material was funded by UK aid from the UK government through the Conflict Research Fellowship, managed by the Social Science Research Council; however the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s views and/or official policies. Dr Dylan O’Driscoll Stockholm, September 2019 Summary Since the end of Ottoman control of the territory of Iraq and the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration in 1921, conflict has emerged in Kirkuk over political and territorial control, and this conflict intensified after the 2003 United States-led invasion of the country. As a result, Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen politicians have been competing for power with little sign of compromise. Conflict in Kirkuk mirrors and often feeds into ethnosectarian competition in the central government, making peace in Kirkuk important to the country as a whole. Despite the failure of elites to demonstrate a willingness to compromise in Kirkuk, peacebuilders, policymakers and donors have focused considerable attention on the elite level and have ignored the local side of peacebuilding, where there is potential to create positive change. In order to better understand that potential, survey research was undertaken with 511 participants in the main bazaar in Kirkuk, a key location for social izing between people from different ethnosectarian groups. The research explored the local side of peacebuilding and the influence that time, space and multiple layers of privilege have on everyday peace and everyday conflict in Kirkuk. By exploring how, when and by whom acts of everyday peace and conflict are performed, this paper highlights how interventions can be developed to limit the drivers of conflict and maximize the drivers of peace. A more thorough understanding of these issues allows for the development of policies that are better targeted to reduce inequalities between ethnosectarian groups and develop local peace. The paper offers recommendations for both local and international peacebuilders, highlights why donors should fund locally focused peacebuilding