Kirkuk farmers say Iraq proceeding with military base expansion on their land
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In a village near Kirkuk, farmers complain that the Iraqi government has taken over their land, using bulldozers and erecting fences in the highly contested area to expand a military base.
“This is our land. It is 90 dunams [one dunam is around 1,000 square meters]. They had taken over 30 dunams of it, now they are taking over all of it. You can see them working on it, the bulldozers are visible,” farmer Mohammad Hamid told Rudaw on Wednesday in Topzawa village, 15 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk. He said they have asked for help from Kurdish officials.
Hammid said he owns the land being used to expand an Iraqi military base.
Satih Nasih, a representative of Topzawa’s farmers, told Rudaw that he has reached out to Iraqi parliament deputy speaker Shakhawan Abdullah, head of Kurdistan Region’s disputed territories board Fahmi Burhan, and Iraqi Justice Minister Khalid Shwani. He noted that Shwani had previously promised assistance, though the expansion of the base has not stopped.
Topzawa has a painful history. Villagers were forcibly displaced in 1988, during Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign against the Kurds. Many victims of the genocide were held in a military camp in the village until they were moved to southern Iraq and massacred.
In May 2023, the Iraqi army’s 11th Division commander, Maad Badai, sent a letter to the Kirkuk agriculture department requesting land in several villages south of Kirkuk be made available for military bases and residential units for soldiers, a move strongly opposed by Kurdish and Turkmen farmers who held sit-in protests for over a month.
In September 2023, the Division entered the military base, despite the protest.
Kurdish and Turkmen farmers were stripped of the ownership of their land south of Kirkuk by a 1975 decree from Hussein that transferred control to the defense ministry and the municipality, claiming they were prohibited oil zones. In 1977, the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Council resettled Arabs in the area.
The Kurds and Turkmen re-inhabited the land following the fall of Hussein’s Baath regime in 2003. The Iraqi Council of Ministers issued a decree in 2012 annulling all decisions of the body in charge of northern Iraq’s affairs during the Baath regime’s reign.
After the fall of Hussein’s Baath regime in 2003, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization under Article 140 of the Constitution to reverse Saddam Hussein’s demographic changes. Kurds and Turkmen returned to re-inhabit their land.
In 2012, the Iraqi Council of Ministers issued a decree annulling all decisions from the Baath regime’s body in charge of northern Iraq affairs. The decree was never fully implemented, however, causing problems for Kurdish and Turkmen farmers following the Iraqi army’s 2017 takeover of Kirkuk.
Recently, Kurds have complained that Arabization policies have been revived. In April, Fahmi Burhan, the head of the Kurdistan Region’s board for disputed territories, said that over 92,000 Arabs had been relocated to Kirkuk since 2017 and urged Kurdish political leaders to stop the “new Arabization.”
Hardi Mohammed contributed to this article.
“This is our land. It is 90 dunams [one dunam is around 1,000 square meters]. They had taken over 30 dunams of it, now they are taking over all of it. You can see them working on it, the bulldozers are visible,” farmer Mohammad Hamid told Rudaw on Wednesday in Topzawa village, 15 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk. He said they have asked for help from Kurdish officials.
Hammid said he owns the land being used to expand an Iraqi military base.
Satih Nasih, a representative of Topzawa’s farmers, told Rudaw that he has reached out to Iraqi parliament deputy speaker Shakhawan Abdullah, head of Kurdistan Region’s disputed territories board Fahmi Burhan, and Iraqi Justice Minister Khalid Shwani. He noted that Shwani had previously promised assistance, though the expansion of the base has not stopped.
Topzawa has a painful history. Villagers were forcibly displaced in 1988, during Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign against the Kurds. Many victims of the genocide were held in a military camp in the village until they were moved to southern Iraq and massacred.
In May 2023, the Iraqi army’s 11th Division commander, Maad Badai, sent a letter to the Kirkuk agriculture department requesting land in several villages south of Kirkuk be made available for military bases and residential units for soldiers, a move strongly opposed by Kurdish and Turkmen farmers who held sit-in protests for over a month.
In September 2023, the Division entered the military base, despite the protest.
Kurdish and Turkmen farmers were stripped of the ownership of their land south of Kirkuk by a 1975 decree from Hussein that transferred control to the defense ministry and the municipality, claiming they were prohibited oil zones. In 1977, the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Council resettled Arabs in the area.
The Kurds and Turkmen re-inhabited the land following the fall of Hussein’s Baath regime in 2003. The Iraqi Council of Ministers issued a decree in 2012 annulling all decisions of the body in charge of northern Iraq’s affairs during the Baath regime’s reign.
After the fall of Hussein’s Baath regime in 2003, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization under Article 140 of the Constitution to reverse Saddam Hussein’s demographic changes. Kurds and Turkmen returned to re-inhabit their land.
In 2012, the Iraqi Council of Ministers issued a decree annulling all decisions from the Baath regime’s body in charge of northern Iraq affairs. The decree was never fully implemented, however, causing problems for Kurdish and Turkmen farmers following the Iraqi army’s 2017 takeover of Kirkuk.
Recently, Kurds have complained that Arabization policies have been revived. In April, Fahmi Burhan, the head of the Kurdistan Region’s board for disputed territories, said that over 92,000 Arabs had been relocated to Kirkuk since 2017 and urged Kurdish political leaders to stop the “new Arabization.”
Hardi Mohammed contributed to this article.