Three Kurdish activists arrested in Kirkuk for protesting Baghdad’s Arabization policy

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi security forces on Tuesday arrested three Kurdish activists for protesting the newly-imposed Arabization campaign implemented by Iraqi authorities in Kurdish-populated areas of Kirkuk Province.

The group of Kurdish activists, working under the umbrella of “The Kurdish Rights Movement,” held a gathering in Kirkuk to protest the Arabization policy implemented by the Baghdad-appointed Kirkuk governor and security forces, sources told Kurdistan 24.

The Iraqi army and Federal Police forcibly dispersed the demonstrators and arrested three Kurdish activists, brothers Adham and Rizgar Juma’a, and another man named Mateen.

Zaniyar Juma’a, the brother of Adham and Rizgar, told Kurdistan 24 over the phone that Iraqi security forces had said they arrested the men for “holding an unauthorized gathering.”

However, Zaniyar said he believes the reason the three activists were arrested was that they stood against the occupation of Kurdish homes and properties due to the Arabization campaign by Kirkuk Governor Rakan Said, supported by the Iraqi government.

He added that the Kurdish activists are now in custody and would be transferred to a court.

In areas surrounding the Sargaran sub-district of Kirkuk’s Dibis district, Iraqi Federal Police supervised the newly-imposed Arabization process in Kurdish-majority villages with some residents reportedly given a 72-hour deadline to leave their homes.

The former Iraqi Ba’ath regime, under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, implemented Arabization campaigns in Kirkuk Province and other Kurdish-populated areas in Nineveh, Salahadin, and Diyala.

The campaign was meant to change the demography of the areas by forcibly displacing the Kurdish residents and replacing them with Arabs from central and southern Iraq.

During a press conference last week, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani expressed concerns regarding reports of the forced displacement of Kurds in Kirkuk as well as an Arabization process reminiscent of practices by the former Iraqi dictatorship.

“We are concerned about the resumption of the Arabization campaign of Kurdish areas in Kirkuk,” he said. “This policy will lead to instability in the region.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany