* Former Iraqi deputy PM heads Kurdistan parliament * Salih seen as moderate in Kurd dispute with Baghdad SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Iraq's former deputy prime minister was chosen on Wednesday to head the government of semi-autonomous Kurdistan, a move that could bring a more cordial tone to tense ties between Kurds and majority Arabs. At the heart of the dispute is the oil producing northern region of Kirkuk, which Kurds see as their ancestral homeland and want to fold into their enclave. Non-Kurds disagree. Barham Salih resigned from his position as one of Iraq's two deputy prime ministers in August after an alliance of his party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Iraqi Kurdistan's other main political force, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of President Masoud Barzani, won 57 percent in a regional parliamentary vote. Viewed as a moderate, the appointment of Salih as prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after having worked closely with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki could help calm a bitter dispute between the two sides, diplomats say. "Kurdistan Parliament just nominated me for Prime Minister of regional gov. President Barzani will officially task formation of new KRG," Salih posted on his Twitter feed. He will start work after Eid, the holiday marking the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan, that is expected to run from Sunday to Tuesday, an official in his office said. The KRG governs a largely autonomous part of Iraq's north, and disagreements between it and Maliki's Shi'ite Arab-led government in Baghdad over land and oil have raised fears among diplomats they could trigger Iraq's next war. The sectarian bloodshed that tore through Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion has abated and some U.S. officials see the Kurd-Arab issue as the biggest long term threat to stability. "One of the positive reasons behind (Salih's) election is his experience in Baghdad," said Abdul-Bari Zebari, a federal Kurdish lawmaker. "Barham Salih has the ability to develop the relationship between Kurdistan and the federal government to reach a common understanding and vision on the points of difference." Sunni Islamist insurgents such as al Qaeda have grown stronger in Iraq's north in recent months by exploiting the tensions, leaving some disputed areas with little security. U.S. combat troops pulled out of Iraqi city and town centres at the end of June under a bilateral security pact, leaving the protection of the population in the hands of Iraqi forces. The rows between Iraq's ethnic Kurd minority and Arab majority have also stalled legislation governing the extraction and sharing of Iraq's vast oil and gas reserves. Tensions calmed after Maliki made a rare visit to Kurdistan last month. A high-level Kurdish delegation is expected to come to Baghdad after the formation of a new KRG government. (Reporting by Sherko Raouf in Suleimaniya and Khalid al-Ansary in Baghdad; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Tim Cocks and Louise Ireland)
1st Lieutenant Jeffrey Wismann speaks with an Iraqi boy during a combined foot patrol in Salman Pak, near Baghdad, September 12, 2009. Iraq army soldiers and U.S. paratroopers conducted the routine ...
