Iraqi army blocks farmers from harvesting in Kirkuk village

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish farmers said Iraqi soldiers entered a village in Kirkuk’s Pirde (Altun Kupri) on Saturday night and prevented them from harvesting their crops as long-running disputes over land ownership in the disputed province continue.

"We have title deeds for seven generations back, but they won't let us harvest," a farmer told Rudaw.

“Initially, the army allowed us to harvest. When the harvester went to our lands and started harvesting, they came and didn't allow us to continue,” said Fazil Othman, another farmer from the village.

According to the farmers, someone from Mosul came claiming to hold a deed for land in the village. "We have been cultivating this land for several years. The army is supporting the Arab man, while this area has no Arabs in it," a farmer said.

"They dream of bringing outsiders onto our land. Unless they go over our dead bodies, they won't cultivate our lands,” another farmer said angrily.

Two farmers were attacked by soldiers, Rudaw has learned.


For more than a month, the Iraqi army has been preventing Kurdish farmers in the area from harvesting their wheat, citing a Baath-era title deed held by an Arab settler for 1,400 dunams of land.

In January, Iraq’s parliament passed a land restitution law to return property confiscated from Kurds and Turkmen during the Baath era. The legislation covers approximately 300,000 dunams - around 750 square kilometers, based on Iraq’s definition of a dunam as 2,500 square meters - in Kirkuk and other disputed areas. This followed a July 2023 federal government decision to revoke Baath-era decrees.

The bill has reportedly been sent to the Iraqi Council of State for endorsement. After approval, it will go to the Council of Ministers for final ratification.

As implementation of the restitution law stalls, Kurdish farmers in disputed areas are also raising concerns over violations by the Kirkuk agriculture directorate.

“The Kirkuk agriculture directorate is still renewing contracts for Arab settlers,” Sheikh Najat Talabani, a representative of farmers in Daquq district, told Rudaw in mid-November.

Land disputes between Arab settlers and Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk date back to Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime. In 1975, several Kurdish villages were declared prohibited oil zones, and residents were stripped of their land rights. By 1977, the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Court redistributed those lands to Arab settlers.

After the regime’s fall in 2003, Iraq adopted Article 140 of the constitution to reverse such demographic manipulations. However, implementation of the constitution and laws aimed at reversing Baath-era policies has stalled and farmers are losing one season after another.


Hardi Mohammed contributed to this report from Gurzayy village in Kirkuk.