Peshmerga forces deployed near Kirkuk village following attack on Kurds

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Peshmerga force on Saturday was deployed to the vicinity of a village in Kirkuk province where a number of Arab settlers attacked Kurdish villagers the previous day, according to a Peshmerga commander who added that the Iraqi army is accused of siding with the attackers.

Kurdish residents of Palkana village in Sargaran subdistrict on Friday faced attacks following a quarrel between two groups of local Kurds and Arabs resulting in the injury of three people, Abdul-Mutalib Najmaddin, acting mayor of Sargaran, told Rudaw without identifying the injured. 

Nuri Hama Ali, a Peshmerga commander, told Rudaw late Saturday that they had deployed a Peshmerga force to near Palkana as a response to the attack, adding that Kurdish villagers complained that the Iraqi army had sided with the group of attackers.

“We are close to Palkana but have not entered the village yet,” he said, noting that they are waiting for an order from the ministry to enter it even if Baghdad does not greenlight it. 

He also said that there will not be any confrontation with the army “as we do not want to fight but Iraq should be for all,” adding that the army has promised to protect everyone in the village. 

“We have told them that we will never accept the oppression of our Kurdish brothers, and that if they cannot protect them we will,” said the commander. 

Ali Rahman, a Kurdish resident of Palkana, told Rudaw’s Hiwa Husamaddin on Saturday that they were glad to hear about the deployment of Peshmerga, adding that those who had entered the village to attack them have now left. 

“We have been suffering for five years,” he said, referring to the withdrawal of Peshmerga forces from Kirkuk late 2017 following an independence referendum. “Today is like my birthday [because of Peshmerga support].”

There are 38 villages in Sargaran. Twelve of these villages are subject to land disputes. 

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani condemned the attack in a statement on Friday. 

“Today’s attack on Palkana village in western Kirkuk was a futile effort to damage the positive atmosphere we are creating with the federal prime minister in order to bring about peace, resolve issues, and step towards stability,” he said.  

“We condemn attacking Palkana Kurds and trying to change the demography of the region through fear and threat and we defend the implementation of Article 140 of the Constitution to provide a basic resolution to the pending issues and end the tensions in these areas as well as paving the way for the development of the Kurdistan Region and other Iraqi areas,” added Barzani. 

Similar attacks by Arab settlers on the Kurdish villagers have taken place several times since 2017. 

Land belonging to several disputed villages was originally taken away from Kurdish farmers by the Iraqi government in 1975 on grounds that they were prohibited oil zones. Two years later, in 1977, under Decree No. 949 issued from the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Council, they were given to Arabs who resettled in the region.

Arabs from elsewhere in Iraq were brought into the disputed areas of Kirkuk largely between 1970 and 1978. The Arabization of the province has been a historical flashpoint between Baghdad and the Kurds.

After 2003 and the fall of the Baath regime, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization within the framework of Article 140 of the Constitution, which aims to reverse the demographic changes begun by Saddam Hussein during the Anfal campaign.

Updated on April 23, 2023 at 7:03 am

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