In the Daquq town of Kirkuk province, a number of Arab settlers have recently started digging wells on the land owned by Kurdish farmers, aiming to boost their agricultural activities.
Mam Azad, a Kurdish farmer, told Rudaw on Wednesday that local authorities do not allow Kurdish farmers to cultivate their land while turning a blind eye to Arab settlers who have not only farmed but also dug wells.
“Now they have begun filing lawsuits against us, including me. They want us to abandon the land, or else they will take it back the same way Saddam [Hussein] gave them,” Nawzad Hidayat, another Kurdish farmer in the town’s Haftaghar, told Rudaw.
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.
Hidayat claimed that the Arab settlers’ plans were endorsed by Kirkruk acting governor Rakan al-Jabouri.
Arab settlers in Kirkuk’s Palkana village also made fresh attempts to confiscate Kurdish land on Wednesday by setting up tents on the farms to pressure the federal government to cater to their demands, primarily the expulsion of Kurds from the village.
The army intervened and ended the activity. Some Kurdish farmers claimed that the Arab settlers ended the sit-in due to internal tensions.
Shakhawan Abdullah, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, told reporters on Wednesday that he recently discussed the issue of Kurdish farmers in Palkana with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, adding that the only solution to the issue is the amendment of the current property law and the dissolution of decrees issued by the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Council decades ago.
Abdullah, a Kurd from Kirkuk, noted that the Iraqi parliament will meet on Thursday to discuss the amendment to the property rights law.
A Kurdish official said last month that over 92,000 Arabs had been relocated to Kirkuk since 2017, urging Kurdish political leaders to work to stop what he labeled as “new Arabization.”
“The Arabs that are relocated to Kirkuk are transferring their national identification card and information card to Kirkuk and permanently settling there, and this is dangerous for Kurds,” Fahmi Burhan, the head of the Kurdistan Region’s board for disputed territories, told Rudaw.
Hardi Mohammed and Hiwa Husamaddin contributed to this article
