ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Several months after Iraq’s parliament passed the long-awaited land restitution law, Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk say they are still facing arrests, lawsuits, and harassment from the Iraqi army, with no signs of meaningful change on the ground.
Iraq’s parliament passed the land restitution bill on January 21, aiming to return properties confiscated from Kurds and Turkmen under former dictator Saddam Hussein’s Arabization program. The law applies to around 300,000 dunams of land in Kirkuk and other disputed areas and follows a July 2023 decision by the Council of Ministers to revoke Baath-era decrees.
During an episode of Rudaw’s Legel Ranj program, a Kurdish farmer from Kirkuk said that “it is the same military rule over us… Nothing has changed.”
Another farmer, Ibrahim Topzawayi, said he has received no support from Kurdish lawmakers. “I am very dissatisfied with them.”
In late July, Topzawayi was sentenced to six months in prison after the Iraqi army accused him of building a house on land it claims belongs to the defense ministry. His sentence was suspended due to his age and clean criminal record. Topzawayi maintains the disputed land was originally owned by his family before being seized under the Baath regime’s Arabization policy.
Topzawa, his village in Kirkuk province, was one of many areas targeted for Arab settlement by decree of the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Court.
Another man from Dibis district’s Taq Taq area said, “My grandfather has been in that village since 1889… none of the [Arab settlers] were there at the time.”
Some families hold title deeds dating back centuries. “Our household has a title deed belonging to our grandfather dating back to 1815. We have hung it in our living room,” one villager said.
Farmers also accused settlers of exploiting political connections to renew land contracts, effectively bypassing existing laws.
“It is ridiculous that we are implementing laws from the defunct [Baath] regime,” said Sozan Mansour, a Kurdish lawmaker from Diyala province, who was a guest on the show. She added that similar problems persist in disputed areas of Salahaddin province.
Political and administrative obstacles
“The Arab people should not have moved to own [laws from] the Baathist fascist regime. Now some of them consider themselves its inheritors,” said Abdullah Mirwais, head of Kirkuk’s agriculture committee. “Never in this country has there been a good will for coexistence.”
In mid-March, the Iraqi justice ministry announced the formation of a “specialized committee” to implement the land restitution law, suspending all land dealings in Kirkuk until the process begins. Committee member Saadiya Abbas said the guidelines would benefit farmers and could be implemented within a month of approval by the Council of Ministers and the prime minister.
However, Mirwais warned that “the problem is that laws are issued but not implemented,” citing a lack of “good intention for coexistence.”
Mansour agreed, saying that enforcement requires both domestic and international political pressure.
Sati' Nasih, representing Topzawa farmers, pointed out that residents have been waiting for Article 140 of the constitution to be implemented for 18 years, making them skeptical of Baghdad’s promises.
“Please, let the Kurdish parties in Kirkuk be united,” one farmer urged. “If we are united, no one can occupy a single piece of our land.”
Mohammed Amin, head of the farmers’ defense committee in Kirkuk’s Sargaran district, said, “Any decision will be implemented if there is a strong political will behind it.” In March, Amin was released on bail after a soldier accused him of insulting the Iraqi army, following a viral February video showing the soldier forcefully removing him from his tractor.
Tensions have flared repeatedly in Sargaran, particularly in mid-February when Iraqi security forces blocked Kurdish farmers from accessing Baath-era seized lands now held by Arab settlers, a move seen as an attempt to alter Kirkuk’s demographics.
The land restitution law
Ratified by the presidency in mid-February, the land restitution law was championed by Kurdish and Turkmen parties who have long sought to reverse demographic changes imposed in the 1970s, when land was seized under the pretext of being in restricted oil zones and redistributed to Arab settlers.
Justice Minister Khalid Shwani announced in March that implementation would begin within two months. However, as the situation in Kirkuk shows, farmers are still waiting.
The oil-rich, multiethnic province remains a flashpoint in the disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government, with Article 140’s mandate to reverse Baathist demographic changes still unfulfilled more than two decades after Hussein’s fall.