ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two Kurdish farmers on Thursday won long-running court battles launched by Arab settlers in a village near Daquq, Kirkuk province, in what could set a legal precedent in Iraq’s disputed territories.
Arab settlers lodged lawsuits against the six Kurds from the village of Yangin Talaban in October 2018. The four other cases are awaiting a verdict.
Mohammed Nuri, a resident and landowner in Yangin, said his land was claimed by an Arab settler, who filed a lawsuit against him at a court in Daquq.
Nuri attributed the quashing of the case to long kept notarized documents that proved his ownership of the land.
“An Arab settler had lodged a lawsuit against me and I appeared before the court. He is not from this area, which is why the court didn’t rule in his favor. We showed the court all our paperwork and notarization, while he had nothing to show it to the court. That is why the court settled the case in my favor,” Nuri told Rudaw.
Another Kurdish landowner, Sarkawt Omar, also had the lawsuit against him dropped.
Kurds and Arabs in Iraq’s disputed territories have been locked in disputes over land ownership since Saddam Hussein implemented a series of Arabization policies, where land belonging to Kurds and Turkmen was seized and reassigned to Iraqi Arabs.
Under the Iraqi constitution, Kirkuk province is considered a disputed territory claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad, as are parts of Diyala, Nineveh, and Saladin.
Territorial disputes were supposed to be remedied by Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which calls for a census and referendum in these areas to establish whether residents want to remain part of Iraq or join the Kurdistan Region.
After the fall of Saddam in 2003, a process of ‘de-Arabization’ began in Kirkuk, with Kurds invited back to their land and Arab settlers compensated.
Tensions intensified after the recapture of the disputed territories by the Iraqi federal government on October 16, 2017 in the aftermath of the referendum for Kurdish independence. Many Kurdish villagers fled the area, fearing violence from Iraqi and Shiite armed groups. Arabs who had left as part of de-Arabization plan returned to reclaim the land.
Kurds who remained claim a policy of “re-Arabization” has been underway in the province, with 13 Kurdish villages in and around Daquq recording land disputes.
Elsewhere in the province, rapid Arabization in 2018 saw just two of the 40 Kurdish families in the western Kirkuk village of Qutan remain a month after the return of Arab settlers, who were able to stake their claim to land using Arabization-era orders.
The settling of new Arab families in some parts of the province and the barring of Kurdish farmers from their land has continued into this year.
After decades of dispute, the court rulings in favor of Kurdish farmers may prove to be a breakthrough in Daquq and elsewhere.
“The only weapon these settlers have is a letter from the governorate. We cannot win by force, but can win through pursuing the legal way because we own these lands and have notarized letters,” Ramazan Majid, chieftain of the village of Yangin, told Rudaw.
“We are the indigenous people of this area. They have been brought to resettle here in order to change the demography of Kirkuk.”
Arab settlers lodged lawsuits against the six Kurds from the village of Yangin Talaban in October 2018. The four other cases are awaiting a verdict.
Mohammed Nuri, a resident and landowner in Yangin, said his land was claimed by an Arab settler, who filed a lawsuit against him at a court in Daquq.
Nuri attributed the quashing of the case to long kept notarized documents that proved his ownership of the land.
“An Arab settler had lodged a lawsuit against me and I appeared before the court. He is not from this area, which is why the court didn’t rule in his favor. We showed the court all our paperwork and notarization, while he had nothing to show it to the court. That is why the court settled the case in my favor,” Nuri told Rudaw.
Another Kurdish landowner, Sarkawt Omar, also had the lawsuit against him dropped.
Kurds and Arabs in Iraq’s disputed territories have been locked in disputes over land ownership since Saddam Hussein implemented a series of Arabization policies, where land belonging to Kurds and Turkmen was seized and reassigned to Iraqi Arabs.
Under the Iraqi constitution, Kirkuk province is considered a disputed territory claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad, as are parts of Diyala, Nineveh, and Saladin.
Territorial disputes were supposed to be remedied by Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which calls for a census and referendum in these areas to establish whether residents want to remain part of Iraq or join the Kurdistan Region.
After the fall of Saddam in 2003, a process of ‘de-Arabization’ began in Kirkuk, with Kurds invited back to their land and Arab settlers compensated.
Tensions intensified after the recapture of the disputed territories by the Iraqi federal government on October 16, 2017 in the aftermath of the referendum for Kurdish independence. Many Kurdish villagers fled the area, fearing violence from Iraqi and Shiite armed groups. Arabs who had left as part of de-Arabization plan returned to reclaim the land.
Kurds who remained claim a policy of “re-Arabization” has been underway in the province, with 13 Kurdish villages in and around Daquq recording land disputes.
Elsewhere in the province, rapid Arabization in 2018 saw just two of the 40 Kurdish families in the western Kirkuk village of Qutan remain a month after the return of Arab settlers, who were able to stake their claim to land using Arabization-era orders.
The settling of new Arab families in some parts of the province and the barring of Kurdish farmers from their land has continued into this year.
After decades of dispute, the court rulings in favor of Kurdish farmers may prove to be a breakthrough in Daquq and elsewhere.
“The only weapon these settlers have is a letter from the governorate. We cannot win by force, but can win through pursuing the legal way because we own these lands and have notarized letters,” Ramazan Majid, chieftain of the village of Yangin, told Rudaw.
“We are the indigenous people of this area. They have been brought to resettle here in order to change the demography of Kirkuk.”
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