Legal Battle Fought to Return Kirkukis' Properties

Kurdistan 11:39 AM - 2024-04-30

Kirkuk Citadel.

The Iraqi parliament is currently deliberating a bill aimed at revoking eight decrees issued by the former Iraqi regime regarding the occupation of land and property, primarily in the Kirkuk region. The affected landowners would be given the opportunity to enter into new agricultural contracts.
 
The bill, entitled "Return of Properties to Real Owners Who were Affected by Several Decisions of the Dissolved Revolutionary Command Council," was first read in parliament on April 27, 2024.

Kurds and Turkmens will get their rights back

The properties will be returned to their original owners who were evicted under eight decrees between 1975 and 1979, including Decision 369 of 1975. The decisions were made to change the demographics of the Kurdistani regions, which affected Kurds and Turkmens. Most of the occupied lands were registered as property of the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture.

Fahmi Burhan, head of the Kurdistani Areas Outside the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)'s Administrative, told PUKMEDIA: "The bill aims to annul the decisions of the abolished Revolutionary Command Council, to return the rights of those affected, it restores rights to the owners. In Kirkuk alone, more than 130,000 Dunam of land (over 32 thousand acres) have been occupied from Kurdish farmers."
 
"These lands are in Sargaran, Topzawa, Daquq and even near Kirkuk neighborhoods, where not only Kurds but Turmens were also affected," Burhan said.
 

Agricultural contracts are being renewed

The bill establishes the mechanism for providing compensation to those who were affected in Kirkuk by the previously mentioned decisions. If the individual was present in Kirkuk at the time the decision was made, they will be provided with a fresh agricultural contract. Or, the original landowners will receive compensation for the worth of crops, water wells, and other agricultural resources on their land.

The PUK faction is an advocate of farmers' rights

Gharib Ahmed, a member of the PUK faction in the Iraqi parliament, told PUKMEDIA: "Our faction has consistently endeavored to challenge and reverse all the rulings made against the Kurds in the disputed regions during the previous Iraqi regime, utilising the parliamentary process. We have garnered support from members belonging to other factions in our pursuit."

The bill aims to repeal the decisions of the abolished Revolutionary Command Council, which consisted of 8 articles issued by the fallen of the Ba'ath regime between 1975 and 1979, regarding agricultural lands in Kirkuk governorate. The bill is not against any community, but it restores rights to Kurds and Turkmens.

The unimplemented Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution was largely drafted to address the issue of the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad. In the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Saladin, the former Iraqi Ba'ath regime made great efforts to Arabize the population, which was the cause of these disputes.

Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk and other disputed areas are occasionally attacked, and their land is taken by resettling Arabs who refuse to give up the lands that were allocated to them during the Ba'ath dictatorship in Iraq.



PUKMEDIA