PM Barzani calls to resolve disputed territories issue within Article 140

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Friday visited Peshmerga forces in the town of Altun Kupri in Kirkuk Governorate to congratulate them on the observance of the Eid al-Adha holiday, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The Premier commended the Peshmerga's resistance and sacrifices as they defended the Kurdistan Region's constitutional structure.

PM Barzani reaffirmed that the Kurdistan Region will always follow the Iraqi constitution and the Erbil-Baghdad agreement, and that the Kurdistan Region would not give up its constitutional rights.

Regarding the disputed territories, the Prime Minister revealed that he had been in contact with the Iraqi Prime Minister to end the occupation of Kurdish and Turkmen farmers' land in Kurdish areas outside the Kurdistan Region.

Moreover, he stressed the importance of resolving the issue within Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which relates to the return of Kurdish-owned lands in Kirkuk to their rightful, legitimate owners.

Backed by Iraqi forces and Kirkuk’s acting Governor Rakan Jabouri, and following the withdrawal of Kurdish Peshmerga forces in 2017, resettled Arabs have stepped up their attacks and harassment against Kurdish villagers.

In a campaign dubbed Arabization, the former Iraqi Ba’athist regime in the 1970s and 1980s displaced thousands of indigenous Kurds and Turkomen in Kirkuk and its surrounding areas, and replaced them with Arab nomads from other parts of the country.

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sought to change the demographics of the oil-rich province, which Kurds have claimed for decades. 

Bolstered by Saddam-era ownership documents, the resettled Arabs seek to reclaim 18,000 dunams (1,800 hectares) of Kurdish lands in the area. To refute the Arab migrants’ claims, rural Kurds cite Ottoman Empire-issued ownership certificates.

Following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Kurdish parties fought hard to include a clause in the new constitution to reverse decades of systemic Arabization. They demanded the “normalization” of these areas through a compensation scheme for resettled Arabs.

Each resettled family has received about 20 million Iraqi dinars (about $16,000 at the 2007 exchange rate) to move back to their places of origin. 

There is no place I would rather be during Eid al-Adha than among our brave Peshmerga on the front line in Prde -mb. pic.twitter.com/D1lQTQSc5f

— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) June 30, 2023