ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The acting governor of Kirkuk city announced on Wednesday that Kurdish farmers in Palkana village in Dibis town could harvest their crops amid growing land disputes between Kurds and Arabs in the region.
According to Abdulmutalib Najmaldin, the acting mayor of Sargaran, a meeting attended by the Kirkuk governor Rakan Saaed al-Jabouri, Kirkuk agriculture department officials, and some Arab settlers who have recently returned to Sargaran, was held to find a solution to harvesting crops on disputed lands.
A committee composed of officials from the Dibis township and Sargaran sub-district would be formed to investigate the growing number of land disputes in the area, Najmaldin added.
Najmaldin added from Thursday, Kurdish farmers could harvest their crops.
Some 16 predominately-Kurdish areas have stopped harvests because of the ongoing land disputincluding: Palkana, Sarbashakh, Shanagha, Darband, Jastan, Tel Halala, Jesuma, Chard, Gabalaka, Kharaba, Quch, Sarelu, Liheban, Sargaran, Dawood Gurga, and Sequchan.
After 2003 and the fall of the Baath regime, Iraq began a policy to reverse the regime’s “Arabization” process and the demographic changes it brought. Lands that had been confiscated from Kurds and Turkmen were returned, while the Arabs who had been settled there by the Baathists were given financial compensation.
Following the events of October 16, 2017 with the Iraqi federal forces taking over most of the disputed areas claimed by Baghdad and Erbil, many Kurdish villagers fled the area fearing violence from Iraqi and Shiite armed groups. Since then, Kurdish locals in the area have alleged that a “re-Arabization” of the region is underway.
The acting mayor of Sargaran added that the representatives of the Arab settlers at the meeting insisted that they had built houses in Palkana and surrounding villages before 2003 and that they were now returning to their properties.
Kirkuk’s governor said that Arabs were the original inhabitants of Sargaran.
Kurdish inhabitants of Sargaran town alleged on Sunday that Arab settlers — backed by Iraqi Security Forces — prevented the crop harvests this season in many areas of Kirkuk.
Some Kurdish villagers in Kirkuk have lamented that Arab settlers stole their wheat crop.
Some 16 predominately-Kurdish areas have stopped harvests because of the ongoing land disputincluding: Palkana, Sarbashakh, Shanagha, Darband, Jastan, Tel Halala, Jesuma, Chard, Gabalaka, Kharaba, Quch, Sarelu, Liheban, Sargaran, Dawood Gurga, and Sequchan.
After 2003 and the fall of the Baath regime, Iraq began a policy to reverse the regime’s “Arabization” process and the demographic changes it brought. Lands that had been confiscated from Kurds and Turkmen were returned, while the Arabs who had been settled there by the Baathists were given financial compensation.
Following the events of October 16, 2017 with the Iraqi federal forces taking over most of the disputed areas claimed by Baghdad and Erbil, many Kurdish villagers fled the area fearing violence from Iraqi and Shiite armed groups. Since then, Kurdish locals in the area have alleged that a “re-Arabization” of the region is underway.
The acting mayor of Sargaran added that the representatives of the Arab settlers at the meeting insisted that they had built houses in Palkana and surrounding villages before 2003 and that they were now returning to their properties.
Kirkuk’s governor said that Arabs were the original inhabitants of Sargaran.
