Farmers in Sargaran and elsewhere in Kirkuk have faced numerous restrictions while trying to access their lands and have been arrested on several occasions, despite the passing of a land restitution law aimed at returning lands confiscated under the Baathist regime to its original owners.
Ahmed Aziz, a farmer from the village of Palkana, has been arrested multiple times for attempting to access his land.
“It’s no longer wheat planting season, it’s wheat harvesting season. But I don't necessarily have to plant wheat - I can grow watermelon, corn, cucumber. It's the planting season for these crops. Yes, there are very strict restrictions. For example, the other day, some Arab children had broken my well. And I went to bring a crane to take out stuff from the well, and forces arrived and told me, 'It's forbidden, and this crane must be seized,’” Aziz told Rudaw on Wednesday.
In February, tensions escalated in Sargaran when Iraqi security forces barred Kurdish farmers from accessing lands previously confiscated under the Baath regime and given to Arab settlers, in a move that was seemingly aimed at altering the demographic makeup of oil-rich Kirkuk and other areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
Footage filmed by Rudaw showed Iraqi army and anti-riot forces clashing with residents of Shanagha village as they attempted to enter their farmland. In one scene, a security officer is seen trying to forcibly remove a farmer from his tractor, pulling him by the scarf.
The crackdown on farmers drew sharp reactions from officials in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, prompting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to task a special committee with probing the incident.
Kirkuk Governor Rebwar Taha, a Kurd, has invited the farmers to assure them that a committee will begin implementing the guidelines set by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to enforce the land restitution law, which annuls the Baathist-era decisions.
“Those recommendations were our demands at the time. All of our demands are included in those recommendations, but a committee needs to be formed to implement the recommendations. Mr. Rebwar decided to form this committee as soon as possible,” Mohammed Amin, a representative of Sargaran farmers, told Rudaw.
The Iraqi presidency in mid-February ratified the land restitution law aimed at returning lands confiscated under the Baath regime to their original owners.
Land ownership disputes in Kirkuk province are on hold until the Iraqi government provides a framework for implementation of the land restitution law, the Iraqi justice ministry told Rudaw last month.
The law pertains to 300,000 dunams of land belonging to Kurdish and Turkmen owners in Kirkuk and other disputed areas. The Sargaran sub-district includes 42 villages, five of which are at the center of the dispute.