Arabization in Kirkuk - Arab farmers steal Kurdish land

[Anthea]

Return to disputed areas top demand

Sirwan Barzani, Peshmerga commander of the Makhmour-Gwer front says the Kurdish Peshmerga's top priority is to return to areas disputed between Baghdad and Erbil, and that they are optimistic that ongoing talks with Iraqi army will bear fruit to fill the security void in the disputed territories that have turned into a breeding ground for Islamic State (ISIS) militants

Speaking to Rudaw on Monday, Barzani said Kirkuk is the core of the problem, and that the two sides have not agreed on how to jointly work in the province. The Peshmerga and Iraqi army will need to reach a mechanism on how to deploy troops given the "sensitivity" of the area, he added.

He blames consecutive Iraqi governments for neglecting the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which has led to the long standing unresolved dispute between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Barzani also said the support of the US-led coalition is vital in fighting ISIS, and labeled calls for coalition troops to leave Iraq as “the biggest mistake.”

The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity:

Rudaw: At what level are the talks between the KRG Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs and the Iraqi Defense Ministry. What is the core issue in the way of reaching a final agreement between both sides. Are there developments?

A degree of mistrust has been created between us and the Iraqi army in the wake of the October [2017] events. It has recently improved. As you know, the last meeting was held in Baghdad and the latest one was held in Erbil today.

You want Peshmerga to return to the disputed areas, but the Iraqi government does not agree. What obstacle is in the way of an agreement?

I am not part of the committees, but as you know these problems are more political than military. If the politicians do not come to an agreement, it will be quite difficult for the military teams to be able to solve the problems. Fortunately, they have edged closer towards each other. They are in talks in Erbil. We are optimistic an agreement will be reached. We should understand that reaching an agreement on the disputed areas or Kurdistani areas outside of the Kurdistan Region is not that easy.

Kirkuk is an impediment. We have not agreed on the deployment of forces in or outside of the city center. It is not easy for either side to resolve the sensitivity of Kirkuk city center. All in all, they will reach an agreement very soon and there are plans to establish a major joint coordination centre in Baghdad, one in Erbil and four more coordination centers between the Iraqi Defense Ministry and the Ministry of the Peshmerga Affairs in Kurdistan. We are very optimistic that we will reach a solution.

Are there parallel political talks for resolving the long-standing security and military issues?

Definitely. Should the politicians not reach a deal, the Peshmerga and Iraqi defense ministry cannot do anything. The problem is political in the first place, not military. This issue dates back a long time, to the establishment of the Iraqi constitutionand Article 140. Unfortunately, consecutive Iraqi governments kept postponing the implementation of this article and the referendum was never held in the disputed areas. This problem is not vested in the Region's government. It was unfortunately the result of the negligence of the consecutive Iraqi governments. Politicians are in continued talks to resolve these issues.

What are the demands of the Kurdistan Region or the Peshmerga ministry? On what points do you want to agree with the Iraqi defense ministry?

The agreement is aimed at eliminating Daesh (ISIS) given that they have taken shelter in the territories between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army. The Iraqi army does not have enough manpower to bring these large swathes of territory under control. Problems grip locals on a daily basis. As you know, they torch farmlands and kill a large number of people, especially in the areas of Khanaqin and Garmiyan. What we want is to create stability in these areas and for people to be safe.

There needs to be complete control of these areas, similar to those administered by the Peshmerga. This is the top demand that we need to agree on by allowing joint forces to be present in them. We want Peshmerga to return to the areas that had been under their control before the October [2017] events. The security of the disputed areas must be guaranteed, especially around the Kurdish-inhabited villages.

As a Peshmerga commander who runs a large frontline, Makhmour and Gwer, how do you assess ISIS activities, especially near Makhmour? What is their estimated number? do you know where they are?

They are very very active, they move a lot in the Qaraj plains. Qaraj and Qarachogh are connected to Qayyarah and other areas down south, to Hawija, through the Tigris river. In this region, they are active and move around all the time. They move freely at night. Their exact number cannot be known because they have become a guerilla group. What we can estimate at this stage is that approximately 150 Daesh militants are active on the ground at Mount Qarachogh alone.

Many times individual and joint operations have been carried out between the Peshmerga and coalition teams backed by coalition drones and warplanes. Some people might not know this information because we cannot always announce our operations. Daesh militants have come under bombardment 34 times over the past two months, killing more than 100 terrorists. This is not a small number at a time people doubt whether or not Daesh exists. Again, I can’t say the exact number, but at least 100 terrorists have been killed over the past two months.

Why is Daesh still present in an area where the Iraqi armed forces are present and the coalition has bombed them numerous times. Why have they not been eradicated?

Mount Qarachogh is very rugged. The mountain range is 50 kilometers long. It is true that the mountain is surrounded by plains. On the eastern side, it is more than 800 meters high. The southern side [under Iraq's control] which overlooks Qaraj is very rugged, and is where they have dug tunnels, in addition to the numerous natural caves they also use. This has become a safe haven for them. They can easily move down the plains because there are not enough armed forces to repel them. Naturally, you only deploy troops to certain locations. They cannot be present.

When the region was under the control of the Peshmerga, we had a face-to-face frontline against the terrorists, we dug trenches and the place was fully controlled by the Peshmerga. Even if one Daesh fighter wanted to cross to the other side, we would see him. In other words, they were never able to even reach Mount Qarachogh. This is not the case now. The plain is wide open to them. Yet, there are people in the region who work and coordinate with them either out of fear or shared ideology. We do not exactly know. It is clear that they receive food and they can easily commute and return to their bunkers on the mountain.

Do the coalition forces continue to assist the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army, especially after they halted their work due to Covid-19 measures?

During the onset of the outbreak of the coronavirus, they reduced their coordination and operations. They are actively engaged in coordination with the Peshmerga. We constantly have coordination. I am speaking about our frontline. I would say we hold a meeting every two to three days. They precisely monitor Mount Qarachogh and assist us in a serious way.

Without their help, it would be very hard to hit them [ISIS] because the fighting techniques have changed as they have resorted to guerilla activities. Without technology from the coalition, it is difficult to kill them in such large numbers. The same is true when it comes to their coordination with Iraq. The biggest mistake is calls for the withdrawal of the coalition partners by some parties in Iraq. If Iraq does this, it will greatly suffer and Daesh will further deepen the issue of stability, and they will be able to control many areas.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/interview/20072020

[Anthea]

Kurds want their land back

Kurdish villagers, resettled Arab families clash in Kirkuk disputed territory

Clashes erupted south of Kirkuk between Kurdish villagers and more than a dozen Arab families who once lived in the area over claims of land ownership in the volatile region, a local Kurdish official said on Saturday.

The clash took place in Guli Tapa, a village located between Daquq in Kirkuk province and Tuz Khurmatu in Salahaddin province, Mala Karim Shkur, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official told Rudaw. The area is disputed by the governments of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

"Nearly 15 Arab resettled families who have broken into a village located between Daquq and Tuz Khurmatu were confronted by the Kurdish inhabitants of the area," Shkur, based in Tuz Khurmatu, told Rudaw.

Footage captured by Kurdish local Araz Dawoodi appears to show a crowd of Kurdish villagers carrying sticks and stones, with a group of Arab families stood in the distance. An Iraqi federal police vehicle is stood between the two crowds, while their personnel is seen moving villagers back. Dawoodi calls on the Kurds to stop throwing stones at the Arab families because there are women and children among them. Gunfire can be heard, but it is unclear from the footage where the fire is coming from.

Daquq mayor Luis Sheikh Fandi denied that there were any armed clashes taking place between Kurds and Arabs in the area, but he did say that "there are land ownership issues in Daquq which has remained unresolved between Kurds, Arabs and the Iraqi government."

As part of its Arabization policy, Saddam Hussein's Baath regime constructed a village called Mahawsh for Arabs relocated from elsewhere in Iraq in the 1990s on Guli Tapa land belonging to Kurdish villagers, Shkur said.

Following the collapse of the Baath regime in 2003, the resettled Arabs were returned to their areas of origin further south in Iraq, with land returned to the original Kurdish inhabitants, he added, according to Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution - designed to resolve disputes of territory claimed by Iraq's various ethnic and religious groups.

"They have now come back and want to once again invade the Kurdish farmlands," Shkur said. "We will move to this village to support the Kurdish inhabitants and farmers and will not allow the resettled Arabs once again to return to this region."

However, since since federal forces took control of disputed territories including Kirkuk on October 16, 2017, Kurdish locals have alleged that a "re-Arabization" of the area is underway.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/020820201

[Anthea]

Reminder Arabs stole land:

Resettled Arabs confiscate
Kurdish farmlands in Kirkuk

Kurdish farmers continue to have their land confiscated in Kirkuk for Arabs resettled during the Baath era, according to local villagers

"I feel like this tractor is running over my body," said Kurdish farmer Dashti Agha as he watched his land being plowed in the village of Palkana, which is south of Kirkuk in the town of Sargaran.

Last week, Kirkuk court took 50 dunams of farmland from Agha and gave it to an Arab who returned to the region last year after lodging a complaint to claim ownership of the land.

Agha says he showed documents, including land deeds, to Iraqi forces to prove the land is his but was unsuccessful in retaining his property.

There are 38 villages in Sargaran town. 12 of these villages are subject to land disputes, according to the local council.

Arabs from elsewhere in Iraq were brought into the disputed areas of Kirkuk largely between 1970 and 1978. The Arabization of the province has been a historical flashpoint between Baghdad and the Kurds.

After 2003 and the fall of the Baath regime, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization within the framework of Article 140 of the constitution, which aims to reverse the demographic changes begun by Saddam Hussein during the Al-Anfal campaign.

Lands that had been confiscated from Kurds and Turkmen were returned, while the Arabs who had been resettled were given financial compensation.

However, they have now come back with the support of the Kirkuk governor Rakan al-Jabouri, who issued 14 decrees seizing land owned by Kurds and giving it to Arabs before Iraq’s Federal Court rescinded his decrees in December.

Kurdish locals in the area have alleged that a “re-Arabization” of the region is underway since federal forces took control of disputed territories on October 16, 2017.

"I did my best to stop them. But they [the Arabs] called the [Iraqi] Army. Shortly afterwards, two groups from the intelligence service of the Iraqi army arrived on the scene. We spoke on the matter. I insisted that they had no rights to use my land,” Agha told Rudaw.

"This issue is not just on the farmlands, but the households as well. It will go beyond Palkana village to others in the region," said Mohammed Amin, another farmer.

Qadir Abbas, head of the Sargaran town's Local Council, says the best solution is for Agha to launch a legal appeal.

"The Kurdish farmer can appeal in court, as Arabs have done," Abbas said. "By doing so, the court will look into both appeals and will make a final decision. Whoever is rightful, the court will decide in his favor."

Abbas added that the Kurdish farmer has the official deeds to the land, unlike the agricultural contracts issued to Arabs under the ex-Baath regime in order to enact demographic change in the area.

Abbas urged the Iraqi parliament, Prime minister and Federal Court to find a "swift solution" to the issue.

Villagers lay partial blame on the Kurdish parties, who they say have given no support to affected farmers.

Hatam Taii, a spokesperson for Arabs in Kirkuk, told Rudaw English that they have "official proof" and documents from the 1940s and 1950s that the area belongs to the Shammar, a large Arab tribe.

The lands of the 12 disputed villages were taken away from Kurdish farmers by the Iraqi government in 1975 on grounds that they were prohibited oil zones. Two years later in 1977, under Decree No. 949 issued from the the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Council, they were given to Arabs resettled in the region.

The Iraqi Agriculture Ministry has now formed a committee to resolve the matter at hand after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) called on them to end the land disputes in Sargaran town.

"We are trying to end such disputes in a legal and constitutional way," Faris Issa, in charge of the KRG representative office in Baghdad, said.

"We have asked Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi to help halt the confiscations. He is not happy with the situation," he added, describing the KRG as also taking the situation seriously.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/281120192

[Anthea]

Continued Arabization of Kirkuk

Fourteen Kurdish political parties warned of continued efforts to revive Saddam Hussein era's Arabization policy in the disputed province of Kirkuk at a press conference on Sunday

"Until now, we have not let one single span of territory be invaded in Kirkuk," Mohammed Osman, a top Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official in Kirkuk, claimed to Rudaw on Sunday after a meeting between the parties. The official warned, however, that efforts to revive the notorious process are present in the province

The parties last met nine months ago, during which they set up a committee to report Arabization efforts, Osman said, adding that the president of Iraq was also party to the committee. He said the coronavirus pandemic forced them to suspend their work, but at Sunday's meeting, they decided to reactivate the committee.

A concerted effort under former President Saddam Hussein mostly between 1970 and 1978 brought Arabs from elsewhere in Iraq to the disputed areas of Kirkuk. After 2003, however, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization to reverse the demographic changes.

Within the framework of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, these lands were returned to the previous Kurdish inhabitants. But since the 2017 retaking of Kirkuk by the Iraqi forces, there have been reports of Arab settlers reclaiming these lands.

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) did not attend the meeting in Kirkuk. The KDP is the only Kurdish political party that has not returned to Kirkuk since Iraqi forces retook the city from the Kurdish Peshmerga in 2017 following the Kurdistan independence referendum. The KDP did not contest the May 12, 2018 Iraqi parliamentary elections in Kirkuk, calling the city “occupied and sold out” due to the presence of Iraqi forces.

"It is clear. The KDP does not want to return to Kirkuk," Osman claimed.

Shakhawan Abdulla, an outspoken former KDP MP in Baghdad from Kirkuk says his party still considers the city "occupied." He says the incumbent Kirkuk governor Rakan al-Jabouri, who replaced Najmaldin Karim after he was ousted in October 2017, is "leading a group to Arabize Kirkuk."

"The way Rakan al-Jabouri treats Kurds is very antagonistic," Abdulla says

"The bulk of the KDP's offices are occupied in Kirkuk and the party has been stripped of its posts," Abdulla noted.

The main parties taking part in Sunday's meeting included the PUK, Change Movement (Gorran), Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal).

Osman says the meeting took place at the invitation of the PUK to "put in order the Kurdish house” and share a “single narrative in the city".

Kirkuk is one of the disputed territories between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. Kirkuk has a mix of Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, and Christian inhabitants.

Article 140 of the constitution was supposed to have resolved the issue of the disputed provinces by 2007, but successive governments have failed to implement the steps outlined in the provision.

The Kirkuk province's southern district of Daquq and Sargaran town, west of Kirkuk city are the flashpoint of ongoing efforts of Arabization since October 2017.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/210920201

[Anthea]

PM condemns systematic
Arabization in Kirkuk

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday condemned "systematic" Arabization in Kirkuk, saying forced demographic change will not be tolerated by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)

"With extreme concern, we are monitoring the situation of the Kurdistani areas outside of the administration of the Kurdistan Region, especially in Kirkuk province where unfortunately the policy of Arabization and demographic change continues in a systematic way," Prime Barzani said in a statement.

"What really concerns us and what we have found strange is that such acts are taking place in a democratic Iraq where, according to the constitution, a roadmap is laid out on how to normalize the statute of the disputed areas," the PM added.

A concerted effort under former President Saddam Hussein,mostly between 1970 and 1978, brought Arabs from elsewhere in Iraq to the disputed area of Kirkuk. After 2003, however, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization to reverse the demographic changes.

Within the framework of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, land was returned to the previous Kurdish inhabitants. But since 2017, when Kurds lost the military and administrative ruling of the province to a major military incursion by the Iraqi forces, there have been reports of Arab settlers reclaiming these lands.

"We strongly condemn the policy of the Arabization in the disputed areas and Kirkuk in particular [and] we reaffirm that the Kurdistan Regional Government will never tolerate this policy, especially the return of and resettling of some people who are not the indigenous people of these areas," said Barzani.

In his Tuesday statement, PM Barzani also called on Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq to make efforts to "prevent these dangerous violations being committed against the indigenous people by the local authorities.'

A delegation from the KRG has been assigned to visit Baghdad to talk to the federal government authorities on the matter at hand.

Kirkuk is disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and is home to Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, and Christian inhabitants. Other disputed territories lie in the provinces of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahaddin.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution was supposed to have resolved the issue of the disputed provinces by 2007, but successive governments have failed to implement the steps outlined in the provision.

The province's southern district of Daquq, and the town of Sargaran west of Kirkuk city are the flashpoint of ongoing Arabization efforts since October 2017.

"We are calling on the federal government to take necessary measures based on the constitutional powers they wield to prevent some of the local administrative authorities from continuing to carry out this policy,” he said. “They should decide to avoid the armed forces from involving in this policy and from being used," Barzani added.

On Sunday, 14 Kurdish political parties also warned of continued efforts to revive Arabization in Kirkuk.

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) did not attend the meeting in Kirkuk. The KDP is the only Kurdish political party that has not returned to Kirkuk since October 2017. It boycotted the May 2018 Iraqi parliamentary elections in Kirkuk, calling the city “occupied and sold out” due to the presence of Iraqi forces.

Shakhawan Abdulla, an outspoken former KDP MP in Baghdad from Kirkuk says his party still considers the city "occupied." He says the incumbent Kirkuk governor Rakan al-Jabouri, who replaced Najmaldin Karim after he was ousted in October 2017, is "leading a group to Arabize Kirkuk."

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/22092020

[Anthea]

Disputed areas discussed

Iraq’s National Security Advisor visited Erbil on Sunday to discuss with Kurdish leaders military cooperation between Iraqi and Peshmerga forces in the disputed areas in order to respond to growing threats from the Islamic State (ISIS) in the area

Qassim al-Aaraji met with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. They “spoke about the latest developments in Iraq and highlighted the importance of continued and enhanced coordination between the Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) following the meeting.

Barzani informed Aaraji that the situation in the disputed areas requires “particular attention and significant cooperation” to end threats imposed by ISIS militants, according to the Kurdish statement.

The Iraqi security advisor also met with President of Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani. “Both sides stressed… the importance of cooperation and coordination between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army in the fight against terrorism, and tracking ISIS movement to ensure the elimination of the group,” read a statement from the president’s office.

At the height of its power between 2014 and 2016, ISIS controlled an area roughly the size of Great Britain, spread across both Iraq and Syria. Although Baghdad announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq in December 2017, remnants of the group have returned to their earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, kidnapping and executing suspected informants, and extorting money from vulnerable rural populations, particularly in territory disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.

According to an intelligence assessment by the Center for Global Policy in May, ISIS has 3,500 to 4,000 active and 8,000 inactive militants in Iraq.

The Iraqi defense ministry and KRG Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs agreed in July to establish three joint coordination rooms to eliminate ISIS cells active in the disputed areas that stretch across Kirkuk, Diyala, Salahaddin, and Nineveh provinces.

The recent wave of ISIS attacks have come as the US and the international anti-ISIS coalition are drawing down and consolidating their missions in both Iraq and Syria.

US-led coalition forces have been in Iraq since 2014 to train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers in the fight against ISIS. The coalition is now reducing its commitment and handing control of bases over to local forces, arguing that Iraqi forces have gained the capacity to combat a degraded ISIS independently.

The coalition has handed over control of eight military bases to the Iraq Security Forces (ISF) this year.

The reduced military supervision could present ISIS remnants in Iraq with a unique opportunity to launch more frequent attacks and expand their influence, particularly in the disputed territories where there are security gaps between Kurdish and Iraqi forces.

Jabar Yawar, secretary general at the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, warned in April that the ISIS resurgence has been underway for some time. “According to our data, the group increased its activities in 2018 and 2019, especially in Kurdistani areas outside of the Kurdistan Region administration, including Diyala, Hamrin, Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, and Qarachogh. In Qarachogh, they even established bases,” Yawar told Rudaw.

There were more than 400 ISIS-claimed or suspected attacks in Iraq between April and June according to a recent Pentagon Inspector General report, up from the 250 attacks recorded in the first three months of 2020.

Most frequently hit was the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, where the Pentagon reported 150 of the quarter's attacks had taken place. Other attacks were reported in the provinces of Kirkuk, Anbar, Nineveh, and Salahaddin.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/270920202

[Anthea]

Arabs violating land agreement

Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk have complained that Arab farmers are not abiding by an agreement to stay off farmland in Daquq, with federal police doing little to solve the situation

Locals say an agreement was made that neither Kurdish farmers nor Arabs in the area would use 7,000 dunams of farmland in order to avoid further tensions in the area.

However, farmer say that they are prevented from using the land while Arab residents violate the agreement.

"It was decided that neither side would use the land. They plough the land secretly but the security forces do not allow us [to do the same]. They have their land in Diyala, Hamrin and Zikhwetun. All of them are official and are ten times better than ours. We won’t let them use our land," said Nawzat Hidayat, a farmer from the village of Fariq.

Kurdish farmers have previously voiced concern over land takeover, and have also accused Arabs of setting fire to their crops.

"If they don’t allow us to plough our lands we will have no option but to leave," said Arkan Ali Baba, a farmer from Mansour village.

Agriculture officials have called for a legal resolution to the dispute.

"The tension is between the people of the area. The case is not taken to the district agricultural committee or Kirkuk’s Agricultural Directorate...no one shall resolve the issue without legal court rulings," said Zuher Ali, Director of the Kirkuk Agricultural Directorate.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/091120201