Kurdistan Region Parliament warns of continued 'Arabization' in Kirkuk

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Disputed Territories Committee in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament on Tuesday urged Erbil to immediately call on the federal government in Baghdad to cease what it called a continuation of past anti-Kurdish "Arabization" campaigns in Kirkuk province.

Kirkuk, an ethnically diverse province comprised mainly of Turkmen, Arabs, Christians, and a Kurdish majority, is claimed by both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Federal Government of Iraq.

Committee Chair Jwan Rozhbayani said in a press conference held with a group of farmers from the Sargran area of Palkana sub-district that Kurdish residents there are calling for the protection of their homes, property, and agricultural livelihoods.

“We, in the committee, sent a message to the regional government to continue the dialogue with the federal government so that the attacks and Arabization campaign against Kurdish citizens to be stopped and to find a solution to the situation," Rozhbayani said in the press conference.

"We propose a security agreement with Baghdad as soon as possible regarding the disputed areas."

Since the Iraqi government’s attack on Kirkuk and other disputed areas in October 2017 following the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum, local Kurds in Palkana say that ethnic Arabs have arrived or have been brought to the province from different areas of Iraq in an apparent attempt to increase their presence in the area and decrease Kurdish populations.

One Kurdish resident who wished to remain anonymous claimed to the media that, on Dec. 8, a joint Iraqi force consisting of the Iraqi army, Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and federal police attacked homes owned by Kurds in Palkana, telling them that they had 24 hours to evacuate their properties. That deadline has since passed.

"We visited the Parliament of the Kurdistan Region," said Mohammad Amin, head of a local Committee for Defending Framer’s Rights. "We have delivered our demands, calling on them to help us defend our rights against this unnatural attack and the campaigns of Arabization that we are exposed to by institutions in the Iraqi government."

"Parties are seeking to get rid of the indigenous Kurdish population in the area and replace them with Arab expatriates," charged Amin, adding that "until now, the Kurdish population in those areas has been able to withstand it, but at the same time they need the support of Parliament and the regional government.”

“The KRG and the Iraqi government need to reach a comprehensive solution that will lead to resolving these problems in accordance with Article 140 of the permanent constitution of Iraq," he concluded.

Article 140 was introduced into the Iraqi constitution to allow its 2005 ratification by kicking controversial decisions on the disputed territories down the road, but over a decade has passed since the 2007 deadline for the article's implementation.

The former Iraqi Baath regime, under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, implemented Arabization campaigns in Kirkuk province and against other Kurdish-populated areas in Nineveh, Salahuddin, and Diyala.

Editing by John J. Catherine