Turkmen MP concerned over Iraqi census, opposition to land restitution bill

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Turkmen MP has voiced concerns over the ongoing Iraqi census, citing the lack of clarity regarding its outcomes and the absence of an agreement. The lawmaker also criticized MPs for opposing a bill that would return land confiscated from Kurdish and Turkmen communities to its rightful owners.

"The population census in all countries must be conducted in a calm and stable situation,” Arshad al-Salihi, a Turkmen member of the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih on Monday.

The Iraqi census process began last month, raising concerns among Kurds about potential demographic shifts in disputed areas, particularly in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. 

The multi-ethnic province has a history of deliberate demographic changes under the Baathist regime’s Arabization policy, which aimed to displace Kurdish landowners. Despite the fall of Saddam Hussein, successive governments have failed to reverse these changes, with new population shifts occurring in recent years. The Turkmen population in Kirkuk has also lost land due to Baathist programs.

“Until now, the government and the planning ministry have not been able to convince us that this census is for development purposes,” Salihi said, expressing concern that the results might influence future policy decisions.

He criticized the shift in census’s terminology: “Previously, it was called the ‘population census’, but this time it is called ‘the general population census for [native] inhabitants and residents’. What does ‘resident’ mean?... We are concerned about the term ‘residents’.”

Salihi emphasized that no agreement has been reached between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government on this issue. 

Kurds have faced forced displacement from Kirkuk and other disputed areas, both during the Baathist Arabization campaigns and following the events of October 17, 2017, when Iraqi federal forces took control of Kirkuk from Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

His concern lies in the possibility that people who are not original residents of a province, particularly those who have moved - whether recently or in waves during the Baath regime - could be counted as part of that province.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution outlines a process for resolving disputes over these territories, including compensation for Arab settlers and the return of lands to their original owners.

However, Kaka Rash Siddiq, head of Kirkuk's office for implementing Article 140, said in August that thousands of Arabs who had received financial and land compensation from the Iraqi government chose to remain in the province.

“An Arab refugee who has come from the Anbar, Mosul, and Baghdad areas and is now settled in the [Kurdistan] region… will be recorded as a resident of the region,” Salihi added.

He argued that the 1957 census remains the most reliable, as subsequent ones were biased under the Baath regime.

This census will be Iraq’s first general population count since 1997 and the first to include the provinces in the Kurdistan Region since 1987. 

Salihi also discussed the Kurdish and Turkmen lands which were seized by the Baath regime in the 1970s under the pretext they were located in prohibited oil zones and the land was given to Arabs who were resettled into the area.

Land restitution bill

In early September, Kurdish parties in the Iraqi parliament unanimously boycotted a session in protest over the exclusion of a bill from the agenda that would return land confiscated under the Baath regime to its original Kurdish and Turkmen owners.

“The stance of the Sunni Arabs foremost [is regrettable], who create obstacles for us, as if we, as Kurds and Turkmens, are forcibly seizing land from the Arabs while the rightful owners of these lands are Kurds and Turkmens,” said Salihi.

After the fall of the Baath regime in 2003, Iraq initiated a de-Arabization policy under Article 140 of the constitution to reverse the demographic changes imposed by Saddam Hussein’s government.

In July 2023, the Council of Ministers unanimously approved a draft law that revokes all Baath-era rulings that seized agricultural lands from Kurds and Turkmen in Kirkuk. However, restoring the land to its rightful owners requires the passage of an additional bill in parliament.

“Unfortunately, our Sunni brothers... [have] collected 91 signatures to stand against the amendment," Arshadi revealed.