Iraqi Kurd leader blames Arabs for growing rift

By Shamal Aqrawi

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - The president of Iraqi Kurdistan urged Arabs to give minority Kurds their political due on Thursday in a strongly worded letter highlighting growing ethnic strains in Iraq's federal state.

"Unfortunately there are short-sighted chauvinists and extremists in some Arab circles, some inside the federal government," Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, wrote in the open letter.

Without naming names, Barzani condemned those who he said had destabilised ties between Kurds, who make up about a fifth of Iraq's 28-million population, and majority Arabs "by provoking harmful ethnic feuds and inflaming the wounds of the past."

Discord between Baghdad and Arbil, the autonomous Kurdish capital, has increased over the division of oil wealth, the proper role of Kurdish security forces and control of northern towns, especially the oil-rich, ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.

Tensions have grown in recent months as Kurds and Arabs jockey for influence ahead of provincial elections this month.

After Saddam Hussein's ouster in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Kurds made themselves partners in the fledgling Shi'ite-led government, winning newfound influence in Baghdad.

But with Shi'ite Arab Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's own position growing stronger and a Sunni Arab insurgency fading, Kurds now see their clout in Baghdad under threat.

'BALANCED PARTNERSHIP'