Baghdad punishes officer accused of Arabization in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s interior minister has reportedly punished a police officer who had moved armed forces into the town of Dibis, Kirkuk province and threatened to evict Kurdish residents.

A number of Kurdish villagers were given a 72-hour ultimatum to leave their homes in order to allow members of an Arab tribe to take their places, witnesses, officials and official letters that go back as early as November 5 revealed.

Shwan Dawoudi, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw that “a force from the Federal Police had been sent to the Sargaran town [in Dibis] for a raid, but an intelligence officer had threatened the Kurds to leave, without an official order.”

“After Qasim al-Araji, Iraq’s interior minister was informed of the attempts made by the officer, he immediately ordered his questioning and transfer," Dawoudi explained.

The officer has left the area, he revealed.

Aram Sheikh Mohammed, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, said that Araji told him he had foiled attempts to expel Kurds from their areas and taken necessary measures against the perpetrators.

Araji said the Iraqi government was not aware of the expulsion that was done on an individual level, the Kurdish official added.

Deputy Speaker Mohammed also said he had been in continuous contact with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi after he was informed of the news.

At least 500 Arabs accompanied by military vehicles of the Federal Police showed up at Palkana village in Dibis or Dubiz district, west of Kirkuk on Wednesday morning at about 10 a.m., witnesses who fled the village told Rudaw.

The affected villages are part of the disputed or Kurdistani areas claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad. The fate of these areas is to be determined by the implementation of Article 140 that includes a series of steps such as reversing the process of Arabization that was conducted by the Baathist government until the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The article should have been implemented by 2007 per the Iraqi constitution.

There have been multiple reports of attacks on Kurdish civilians since the disputed areas came under Iraqi control in mid-October.

Tens of thousands of Kurds fled their homes in Tuz Khurmatu. Rights organizations such Amnesty International and a UN probe found hundreds of cases of burning, bombing and looting of houses and business of mainly Kurdish residents in the diverse city. The Kurdish parliament labeled such acts alongside revenge killings “genocide,” while Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki described it as “ethnic cleansing.”

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