KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region – An old map, falsely designating hundreds of square kilometers of land in Iraq’s disputed Kirkuk province as “restricted oil areas” in order to relinquish Kurdish ownership of the territories, still remains in force, claims a member of Kirkuk’s security committee.
Ahmad Askari says that major Kurdish residential neighborhoods inside Kirkuk city -- such as Rahimawa, Imam Qasim, Iskan and Almas -- fall under that designation, outlined in a map from the time of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator ousted in the 2003 US-led invasion.
“The idea behind this map is obvious: It is to uproot the Kurds from the province,” says Askari, who claims to have a copy of the map.
He complains that, though territories were falsely classified as oil regions, they remain closed-off, causing major delays in implementing a master plan to improve Kirkuk.
Askari’s advice is for Kirkuk’s representatives in the Iraqi parliament to work to repeal the law over restricted areas in force in the province.
Kirkuk mayor, Kamil Salayi, says that the state-owned North Oil Company (NoC), which is part of the Iraqi oil ministry in Baghdad, has submitted an official request for the removal of a number of villages outside Kirkuk, on grounds that they are “within the designated oil areas.”
“But I have asked the company to reconsider its request,” Salayi says. “Given that an oil well needs only 75 meters of free space around, it is not fair to demolish those villages.”
Kirkuk, which is said to be floating on an “ocean of oil,” is at the heart of a row over disputed territories that are claimed by both Iraq’s central government in Baghdad, and the Kurds who have their own self-rule Kurdistan Region in the north.
The Kurds hold major security and government posts in Kirkuk and have appointed two Kurdish governors since Saddam’s fall. But the Kurds complain they are kept in the dark about the affairs of the NoC, which is under the strict control of the central government.
Askari says that the law was used by Saddam to deprive Kurds of their land.
“Most of the designated area is agricultural land and not a single liter of oil has been extracted there,” he told Rudaw.
Askari says that the law was passed after the Baath regime nationalized Iraq’s North Oil Company. But it included vast areas of land that included many Kurdish villages and farms.
Askari adds that he has requested to see a copy of the law, but the NoC has refused to provide it.
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