LAST NEWS ABOUT KIRKUK/ KURDISTAN

[Anthea]

Turkmen leader injured in blast

A Turkmen community leader was injured in an explosion in Kirkuk on Saturday, according to the Turkmen Front political party, which said the blast was an attempt to “create chaos” between groups in the multi-ethnic city

At least five people were injured by an improvised explosive device in the Musalla neighborhood of Kirkuk, an unnamed police source told Rudaw.

The head of the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk, Qahtan al-Wandawi, told Rudaw he believes that the attack was directed at Saygin Haceroglu, who runs the Turkmen Cultural House, which is affiliated with the party.

Haceroglu was severely injured

Hasan Turan, the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, denounced the attack in a statement, calling it an “act of terrorism intended to destabilize the city.”

“This treacherous assault on Turkmen leaders clearly demonstrates the intent of terrorist organizations to threaten the security and stability of the region. It is seen as a desperate attempt to disrupt national unity and create chaos among its components,” Turan said.

Turan called on Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani “to intervene, safeguard the security and stability achieved following the law enforcement operation [against ISIS] in Kirkuk, take all necessary measures, and ensure that those responsible for this terrorist act are brought to justice.”

No party has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. The police are investigating.

Kirkuk continues to be a focal point for ethnic tensions, amid frequent hit-and-run attacks by Islamic State (ISIS) sleeping cells.

On Wednesday, at least four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suspected ISIS ambush in western Kirkuk. At least six suspected ISIS members, including a leader, were killed in an operation carried out by Iraqi forces in Kirkuk on September 19.

ISIS seized control of large swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.

The militants have taken shelter in a security vacuum that exists in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, stretching across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Nineveh, and Diyala.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/051020242

[Anthea]

Kurds in Kirkuk worried about census

Residents of a neighborhood in the disputed (stolen) city of Kirkuk are worried about being excluded in the upcoming census as household mapping officials have skipped parts of the area

"They have come to this side, but they say this other side is in a red zone. What does 'red zone' even mean? I do not know. So far, no one has come to do the counting."Abdulqadir Nasraddin, a resident of Kirkuk’s Panja Ali neighborhood, told Rudaw.

Panja Ali, a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood, is made up mainly of the families of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who returned to the city after the fall of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. The neighborhood is divided into 184 blocks.

“We asked them ‘why are you not working in these areas?’ They said ‘these will be covered by other teams.’ After they passed us by, they went to the other sides and finished it all,” said Sadraddin Hussein, a Kirkuk native who was in the city during the 1957 census.

In early October, the census process began in the Kurdistan Region, sparking concerns among Kurds about potential demographic shifts in disputed areas and complications regarding the status of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

However, a ministry official stressed that no place will be excluded in the census.

“No place will be excluded, and the committees will visit them,” Mustafa Akram, director of Kirkuk’s statistics and planning board in the Iraqi planning ministry, said in response to Rudaw’s request for comments.

Rudaw has learned that around 80 percent of household mapping is completed in Kirkuk.

The census will be Iraq’s first general population count since 1997 and the first to include the provinces in the Kurdistan Region since 1987.

Kurds have been forced out of oil-rich Kirkuk and other disputed areas through Baathist-era Arabization processes and the events of October 17, 2017, when Iraqi federal forces were given control of Kirkuk and the disputed areas from Kurdish Peshmerga forces by the TRAITOR BAFEL TALABANI

Due to demographic changes in the disputed territories, Kurdish officials have suggested that a census conducted in 1957 could be useful in places like Kirkuk.

“If we go back to 1957, Kurds in Kirkuk and the disputed territories were 48 percent, but in [19]97, that percentage dropped to 21 percent, and our Turkmen brothers went from 21 percent to 6 percent. Our Arab brothers, I believe, from 21 percent were increased to 72 percent,” Shwan Jabar, assistant director of the population census in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw last month.

Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic province that has seen deliberate demographic change under the Baathist regime’s policy of Arabization, designed to force Kurdish landowners out of the oil-rich province. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, successive governments have failed to fully implement steps to reverse the demographic changes and there have been new population shifts in recent years.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/071020241

[Anthea]

Iraqi to vote on 3 controversial bills

Kurdistan Region - Three contentious bills are on the agenda of the Iraqi parliament‘s Sunday meeting, and disagreement between the parties might lead to another exclusion of the bills from the session

The parliament is set to vote on a bill that would return land confiscated under the Baath regime to the original Kurdish and Turkmen owners.

“All three bills have been put on the agenda. If they are passed, they will be together. This happens if the legal quorum is reached,” Dara Sekanyani, a member of the legal committee in the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw.

“If no agreement is reached, the session may not be held,”

The parliament has done a first and a second reading for all three bills, however, disputes among the parties have prevented voting on the contentious bills.

Yassin al-Ithawi, a Sunni MP said that the opinion of the Sunni parties was not taken regarding the amnesty bill, rendering the bill “incomplete”, adding that the legal committee has yet to vote on the bill.

“Up until today, the legal committee has not voted on the general amnesty law, so including it in today’s agenda is wrong,” Ithawi said.

The general amnesty bill aims to amend the definition of affiliation with terrorist organizations in the 2016 General Amnesty Law.

This amendment was a primary demand of Sunnis when they agreed to join the ruling State Administration Coalition with the Shiite Coordination Framework and Kurdish parties to form the government.

Sunnis argue that thousands from their community have been unjustly imprisoned in Shiite-dominated Iraq since 2003 due to alleged links to terrorist groups.

The bill was proposed by the parliament’s legal, security, defense, and human rights committees.

The parliament is also set to vote on the controversial proposed changes in personal status law, which has caused uproar within women and civil rights groups as they would effectively legalize child marriage.

If passed, the proposed amendment would allow Iraqis the choice to follow religious rules to govern matters in their marriage. For Shiites, the bill specifies following the provisions of the Jaafari school of jurisprudence, which permits marriage for girls as young as nine and boys at fifteen.

On Sunday, the legislature is also scheduled to vote on the land restitution bill. Voting on the Kirkuk land restitution bill was supposed to be held last month, however, it was excluded from the agenda for the September 4 session, prompting Kurdish parties to boycott the parliament meeting

The bill has gone through its first and second readings but has not been put to a vote.

Multi-ethnic regions known as the disputed areas, particularly the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, have long been a point of contention between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government. In the 1970s, Kurdish and Turkmen lands were seized by the Baath regime under the pretext they were located in prohibited oil zones and the land was given to Arabs who were resettled into the area

Following the fall of the Baath regime in 2003, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization under Article 140 of the constitution, aiming to reverse the demographic changes imposed by former dictator Saddam Hussein.

In July 2023, the Council of Ministers unanimously approved a draft law revoking all Baath-era rulings that had confiscated agricultural lands from Kurds and Turkmen in Kirkuk. However, restoring the land to its original owners requires the passage of an additional law.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/27102024

[Anthea]

Shia, Sunni Parties Oppose
Ba'ath Decision Cancellation

A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) faction in the Iraqi parliament stated that the majority of Shia and Sunni parties are not in favor of canceling the decisions of the former Iraqi Ba'ath regime related to land occupation in Kurdish cities and towns

Sherwan Dubardani, a member of the KDP faction in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday that Kurdish parties in the Iraqi parliament insist on canceling the Ba'athist decisions.

The Iraqi parliamentarian noted that most Shia and Sunni parties oppose the cancellation of Ba'ath decisions concerning land occupation in Kurdish areas.

"The Shia parties want the cancellation of decisions that affect their regions," he stated.

The Iraqi parliament met on Sunday, to vote on several controversial and important issues, including the general amnesty bill, the amendment bill to the 1959 Personal Status Law, the bill to annul the decisions of the former Iraqi Supreme Revolutionary Council, the return of occupied properties to their owners, and the pension bill for Hashd al-Shaabi militants.

Meanwhile, Iraqi parliament acting Speaker Mohsen Al-Mandalawi initially postponed the vote on the bills but later adjourned the session indefinitely due to disagreements among lawmakers over the personal status amendment bills, the cancellation of former Iraqi regime decisions, and the pension for pro-Iranian militia groups known as Hashd al-Shaabi.

Shwan Kalari, deputy chairman of the Martyrs and Political Prisoners Committee in the Iraqi parliament, told Kurdistan 24 that there are still MPs in the Iraqi parliament who openly support the decisions of the Ba'ath regime.

"The Kurdish areas outside the Kurdistan Region
should be returned to their rightful owners," Kalari added

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/864793

[Anthea]

Kurds and Sunnis argue on Kirkuk land dispute

The Iraqi parliament on Tuesday adjourned its session after tensions rose between Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers over a proposed bill to resolve land disputes in Kirkuk, an MP told Rudaw

The parliament was voting on a bill that would return land confiscated under the former Baathist regime to its original Kurdish and Turkmen owners. The vote was scheduled for last month but then excluded from a session, prompting Kurdish parties to boycott the parliament meeting.

Dara Sekaniani, a member of the legislature’s legal committee, said that the Sunnis are blocking the voting process on the bill. It had passed the first and second readings, and the Sunnis refused to allow the vote to take place, to the ire of the Kurds and Turkmens.

“The bill had been put on the agenda several times, but the session has not been completed due to Sunni protests,” Sekaniani, a Kurd, told Rudaw.

Multi-ethnic regions known as the disputed areas, particularly the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, have long been a point of contention between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government.

In the 1970s, Kurdish and Turkmen lands were seized by the Baath regime under the pretext they were located in prohibited oil zones and the land was given to Arabs who were resettled into the area

The Baath regime’s notorious Revolutionary Command Council was responsible for seizing the lands, issuing decrees and transferring Kurdish and Turkmen properties to the defense ministry and municipality.

The Iraqi government’s draft consists of five articles and refers to the cancellation of eight decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council, but was amended during negotiations and other decisions were added to return more land to the Kurds and Turkmens.

“The legal committee amended it [the draft] and added other decisions,” Sekaniani said. “The Nineveh Plains, Makhmour in Nineveh province, and other areas such as Dujail in Salahaddin province have been added.”

Srwa Mohammed, another MP, told Rudaw that the Sunnis first left the parliament hall and later returned, causing tensions to break out. She explained that the government’s draft included the cancelation of eight decisions but the legislature’s legal committee increased it to 18.

While the Sunnis want to vote on the government’s draft, the Kurds insist that the legal committee’s amendments be included, according to Mohammed.

Following the fall of the Baath regime in 2003, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization under Article 140 of the constitution, aiming to reverse the demographic changes imposed by former dictator Saddam Hussein

In July 2023, the Council of Ministers unanimously approved a draft law revoking all Baath-era rulings that had confiscated agricultural lands from Kurds and Turkmen in Kirkuk. However, restoring the land to its original owners requires the passage of an additional law.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/30102024

[Anthea]

KRG Delivers Aid to Flood Victims

The Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC) of the Kurdistan Government’s Ministry of Interior, in partnership with the Barzani Charity Foundation, has delivered emergency aid to residents affected by recent heavy rains in Kirkuk

On Monday, the JCC and local authorities assessed the impact of the flooding, which damaged around 15 homes in the Shuraw neighborhood. Relief items, including carpets, mattresses, blankets, food baskets, cleaning supplies, and children’s essentials, were distributed to affected families.

The KRG’s Ministry of Interior, through the JCC, has also established five crisis and disaster response warehouses across the Kurdistan Region, aimed at ensuring rapid response and essential aid distribution during emergencies.

Iraq has been hit by a wave of intense rainfall, causing flash floods across multiple regions, including Kirkuk, where the flooding tragically claimed the life of one woman.

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/865535

[Anthea]

Iraqi Ministry of Defense:

Official letter shows Iraqi Ministry of Defense is demanding to restrain properties in few provinces including Kirkuk

Under the name of agricultural reform, the lands by an issued order in the court during Ba’ath regime, were taken off the Kurdish and Turkmen farmers in Kirkuk, other Iraqi provinces, except the Kurdistan Region, also transferred on to the name of the Ministry of Finance.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – It’s started from the last month, with the Iraqi Army Chief of staff/ Presidency sending a letter to all Directorates and Estate registration offices in Iraqi provinces and towns to restrain lands are registered in the name of the Ministry of Defense.

A copy of the letter numbered Q2/4/68/15854 on October 31st, 2024 gained by Kurdistan 24’s website department. The document has been sent to the estate of property registration and directorates in all 15 provinces and provincial boundary offices to order the Federal Court to sign the whole land and property owned by the Ministry of Defense.

The decision from the Federal Court beside the generalization made by the Iraqi Army presidency, meanwhile an area of ​​135.000 dunams land in Kirkuk province, which some part of locates within Tobzawa border, also other areas of southern Kirkuk.

Under the name of agricultural reform, the lands by an issued order in the court during Ba’ath regime, were taken off the Kurdish and Turkmen farmers in Kirkuk, other Iraqi provinces, except the Kurdistan Region, also transferred on to the name of the Ministry of Finance.

Earlier, the Iraqi Federal Court decided to postpone the hearing on the issue of resolving the farmers’ complaints in Sargaran and Daquq to mid-November this year 2024.

Second time court adjourned the hearing

The Iraqi Federal Court on September 16th, 2024, for the second time, adjourned the hearing for two complaints filed by Kurdish and Turkmen farmers in Sargaran Sharde and Daquq towns against the Speaker of Parliament to overturn the decisions were made by the Ba'ath regime.

They forcibly restrained agricultural land from Kurdish farmers and transferred the ownership on to the Ministry of Finance at that time.

According to the deadline has been set by the Federal Court to review the complaint by the Kurdish and Turkmen farmers, is November 13th, 2024, supposed to resolve the complaint.

The first claim was filed by six Kurdish residents of Sharadei Sargaran countryside against the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament.

In the claim, it is requested to consider Ba'ath’s court decision No. 949 of 1977 to restrain the lands and transfer the ownership of those agricultural lands from Kurdish citizens, against the constitution

Beside the returning those agricultural lands should be declared unconstitutional and the decision by the Ba'ath regime should be annulled and the land ownership rights should be restored.

The second complaint was also filed by four Kurdish and Turkmen farmers in Daquq in the southern Kirkuk against the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and his authorities.

Demanding the unconstitutionality and annulment on the decision No. 824 issued on August 16th, 1976 and their property rights have been taken away.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/80 ... ing-kirkuk

[Anthea]

Iraq Parliament to address 49 years of Kurdish

property rights violations in Kirkuk

"This legislation represents the restoration of rights to their rightful owners," Hadi emphasized, noting that the law has been well-developed and faces minimal substantive opposition in parliament

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - On Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, Rebwar Hadi, Chairman of the Iraqi Parliament's Legal Committee, announced in an interview with Kurdistan24 that a new draft law aims to restore public and private properties to their rightful Kurdish owners who have faced discrimination over the past 49 years.

These properties were seized by the Baath regime and distributed to Arab settlers from central and southern Iraq.

As Hadi stated, the Baath Regime policies are set to be terminated and the property rights of rightful Kurdish owners are to be restored. As such, Hadi underscored that “The draft law will nullify previous Baath regime decisions. The legislation specifically addresses Kurdish properties in Kirkuk and it is independent of other legislation.”

“The Bill is expected to pass during the extended parliamentary session; also, the opposition to the law is weak," he remarked.

"This legislation represents the restoration of rights to their rightful owners," Hadi emphasized, noting that the law has been well-developed and faces minimal substantive opposition in parliament

Another aspect that the Chairman of the Iraqi Parliament's Legal Committee discussed was the matter related to the budget and oil exports.

“Budget amendment will soon reach parliament. Discussions continue regarding oil production costs, set at $16 per barrel,” he added.

“If these changes are applied, then this could enable the resumption of Kurdistan Region's oil exports,” he further clarified.

Following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, addressing historical injustices against Iraq's Kurdish population, particularly in Kirkuk, has been a crucial political issue

The Baath regime's Arabization policies from the 1970s resulted in widespread Kurdish property confiscation and demographic changes.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/80 ... -in-kirkuk

[Anthea]

Kirkuk farmers accuse Arabs

of blocking land access

Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk are once again accusing Arab settlers of preventing them from working their land, months after the farmers were blocked from harvesting their crops and Baghdad was forced to intervene

“The Arab settlers have brought an army letter saying they own the land and are not allowing Kurdish farmers to do their work,” Mohammed Amin, head of the farmers’ defense committee in Sargaran subdistrict, told Rudaw on Saturday.

Disputes between Arab settlers and Kurdish farmers date back to the Baathist era. Land in several villages was taken away from Kurdish farmers by the Iraqi government in 1975 on the grounds that they were located in prohibited oil zones. Two years later, under Decree No. 949 issued by the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Court, the land was given to Arabs who were resettled in the area from elsewhere in Iraq

In May, heightened tensions between Kurdish farmers and Arab settlers reached a boiling point near the village of Palkana after the settlers prevented farmers from harvesting their crops, citing ownership documents for the land that date back to the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein.

This forced the Iraqi government to send a delegation to the village to resolve the issue, allowing Kurdish farmers to harvest their crops.

“After the committee arrived, an agreement was reached to harvest, then not to work the lands until November 1, until the problem is completely resolved. That is why we did not work [the lands],” said Amin, recalling the events of May.

“Now, the Arab settlers have brought a letter from the [Joint] Operations Command claiming they own the land according to the 1957 census. We have repeated before and will say it again that if they own the land according to that year’s census, it should be theirs, but they are not being truthful,” he stated.

After 2003 and the fall of the Baath regime, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization within the framework of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which aims to reverse the demographic changes carried out by former dictator Hussein. The article has never been fully implemented, however, and land disputes still exist.

A bill drafted by Kurdish lawmakers seeking to return confiscated lands to their original owners is currently in the Iraqi parliament. It is one of three major pieces of legislation that are expected to be voted on soon

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/09112024

[Anthea]

600 thousand Arabs moved to

Kirkuk in seven years

Former Kirkuk governor facilitated the movement of 600 thousand Arabs from other parts of Iraq to the disputed province, establishing several neighborhoods in only seven years, claimed a Kurdish official on Sunday as Kurdish concerns over the upcoming census in the country grows

Fahmi Burhan, head of the Kurdistan Region's board for disputed territories, said during a conference in Sulaimani on Sunday that Rakan al-Jabouri, who became acting governor of Kirkuk in 2017 following the withdrawal of Peshmerga forces from the city, “brought nearly 600 thousand Arabs to Kirkuk city

He also established nearly nine neighborhoods in Kirkuk city” between 2017 to 2024.

Jabouri’s reign ended in August after a Kurdish governor was appointed to the position.

“We cannot be sure that these people will not have an impact on the future of this city,” noted Burhan.

A census will be conducted in all Iraq on November 20, but Kurds fear that it could be used for political gains against them in the future, especially in disputed areas like Kirkuk.

The ethnicity question had been a key obstacle to conducting a census between Baghdad and Erbil. In April, Iraq said it would carry out the census without surveying its citizens on their ethnicities.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled Kirkuk when Iraqi forces attacked Peshmerga and forced them to withdraw following the 2017 independence referendum in the Kurdistan Region and the disputed areas under Kurdish rule. Most of them have not returned.

Burhan called on them to return to the city before the census, adding that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will facilitate their return.

“We are the owners of the house and when someone knocks on the door of the owner of the house, it should not be opened by a guest,” he said.

“We are not against the census and we believe that it is a necessity… but because the issues of these areas have not been settled we would love to see it postponed in these areas until at least the Article 140 is implemented,” he noted, referring to an article in the Iraqi Constitution that calls for normalization steps in the disputed areas, including the return of lands and properties to their original owners.

The Kurdish official also said that hundreds of thousands of Kurds have fled Kirkuk.

More than 200 thousand families have left Kirkuk due to Arabization and expulsion policy

Nearly 62,000 Yazidis have left Shingal. This is a significant issue for us and these are big numbers, he said.

Shingal is the homeland of Yazidis in Nineveh province.

People from the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, as well as other areas disputed between the federal Iraqi government and the KRG will be required to return to their hometowns during the census period, Shwan Jabar, assistant director of the population census in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw on Saturday.

Census teams will visit households across the Kurdistan Region to record data between November 16-19, according to Jabar.

“On November 20 and 21, enumerators will visit the households and review the data,” Jabar noted, with a curfew set to take place across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region during the two days.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/101120244

[Anthea]

Kirkuk land dispute must be resolved

Kirkuk governor Rebwar Taha on Monday said that they will resolve recently resurfaced land disputes between Kurdish farmers and Arab settlers “according to the law,” and expressed support for passing the land restitution bill in the Iraqi parliament

On Saturday, Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk’s Sargaran accused Arab settlers of preventing them from working their land, months after the farmers were blocked from harvesting their crops and Baghdad was forced to intervene.

“We want to solve the problem in that area … in a way that the law is implemented,” Taha said adding, “We will side with who has the right according to the law.”

“This issue … is a chronic disease,” he emphasized.

Disputes between Arab settlers and Kurdish farmers date back to the Baathist era. Land in several villages was taken away from Kurdish farmers by the Iraqi government in 1975 on the grounds that they were located in prohibited oil zones.

Two years later, under Decree No. 949 issued by the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Court, the land was given to Arabs who were resettled in the area from elsewhere in Iraq.

A bill drafted by Kurdish lawmakers seeking to return lands that were confiscated under the Baath regime to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners is currently in the Iraqi parliament. It is one of three major pieces of legislation that are expected to be voted on soon

“We were awaiting the Iraqi parliament for the bill to be voted on. Unfortunately, there are obstacles until now and it has not been voted on,” the governor said, assuring that the passing of the bill would benefit “all the [ethnic] components of Kirkuk.”

Taha said the bill does not only pertain to farmers' issues but also creates administrative obstacles, preventing them from rolling out service initiatives “as much as it is needed.”

In May, heightened tensions between Kurdish farmers and Arab settlers reached a boiling point near the village of Palkana after the settlers prevented farmers from harvesting their crops, citing ownership documents for the land that date back to the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein.

This forced the Iraqi government to send a delegation to the village to resolve the issue, allowing Kurdish farmers to harvest their crops.

Kirkuk, along with other disputed territories in Diyala, Nineveh, and Salahaddin, has a diverse population and was subject to Arabization policies under Saddam Hussein’s rule, where Kurdish inhabitants were displaced and their lands given to Arab settlers.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution outlines a process for resolving disputes over these territories. It begins with compensation for Arab settlers and the return of lands to displaced Kurdish landowners.

The article has not been implemented and land disputes still exist

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/111120241

Why should Iraqi thieves receive compensation?

It is the Kurds who should receive compensation for the lose of their lands.

In UK if someone steals property they go to jail they most certainly do not receive compensation for being a thief

These so-called Iraqi settlers knew it was Kurdish land and should have been thrown out the day Saddam was killed and his vile Baathist regime collapsed

[Anthea]

Census issues resolved

Iraq’s government on Tuesday announced that it approved conducting the general population census nationwide, including the Kurdistan Region, after resolving “technical issues” with authorities in Erbil

The council approved “conducting a general population census throughout Iraq after resolving technical issues” with the Kurdistan Region Statistics Office (KRSO), according to a statement from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s office following a council of ministers meeting.

The statement added that the council has decided to “increase the financial cost allocated for the census,” to conduct the process “without any delay.”

The process has raised concerns among some Kurdish officials about potential demographic shifts in disputed areas.

The ethnicity question had been a key obstacle to conducting a census between Baghdad and Erbil. A census could contribute to the resolution of many problems like Baathist-era Arabization, the status of disputed the Kirkuk povince, and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s [KRG] share from the federal budget.

In a bid to address the Kurdish concerns, the Iraqi government last week approved a KRG request to conduct the census based on the residents’ place of origin rather than their current place of residence, using information from the Iraqi migration ministry and the 1957 census for reference in the disputed areas

The decision also indicates that KRG representatives can be present at data centers in Baghdad for transparency.

Despite the decisions, KRG’s concerns persist

Hawre Tofiq, head of the Iraqi presidency’s office of relations and international organizations told Rudaw on Tuesday that Kurdish officials do not deem this process necessary and instead recommend that citizens’ residency information should be based on their place of origin and national identification card.

“Anyone who has come to Kirkuk should be recorded directly on the basis of their national card and hometown,” Tofiq said, explaining that this should be done without requiring verification by a joint committee that compares data from the migration ministry and the 1957 census to exclude individuals from being considered residents of the disputed area.

On Sunday, Shwan Jabar, assistant director of the population census in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw that census teams will visit households across the Kurdistan Region to record data between November 16-19.

Iraq last conducted a census in 1997, excluding the provinces of the Kurdistan Region. The last census involving the Kurdistan Region was in 1987.

Estimates now put Iraq’s population around 50 million. A census planned for 2020 was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Iraq commenced its first phase in September by surveying and counting buildings.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/121120241

[Anthea]

Census Concerns in Kirkuk

At the request of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), all Kurdish political parties in Kirkuk are holding a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue of the upcoming census in the province

Iraq is expected to hold a general census on November 20 and 21. Earlier this week, the head of the KDP branch in Kirkuk announced opposition to conducting the census in the disputed province, citing demographic changes in recent years due to an influx of Arabs from central and southern provinces.

Kurdish political parties are anticipated to express their stance on the census in Kirkuk, particularly as observers stress its importance and decisiveness.

The Iraqi constitution, according to Article 140, mandates that the census be conducted following a normalisation process under the article’s implementation.

Iraq last conducted a census in 1997, excluding the Kurdistan Region provinces.

The last census to include the Kurdistan Region was in 1987.

Iraq began the first phase of this census in September, surveying and counting buildings.

Current estimates place Iraq’s population at around 50 million. A census scheduled for 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/866325

Iraqi INVADERS should not be included in the census

[Anthea]

KRG Announces Holiday

The Kurdistan Government (KRG) has declared a public holiday from November 15 to 23 to enable broad participation in Iraq’s upcoming national census

Announced during a Thursday Council of Ministers meeting, the holiday applies to all civil and military personnel, as well as students in schools, universities, and colleges.

However, the decision primarily impacts residents of areas affected by Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, which covers territories disputed between the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi federal government.

Private companies and organizations are also encouraged to grant employees from these areas time off to facilitate their census participation.

Scheduled for November 20, this national census, organized by Iraq’s Ministry of Planning, seeks to gather updated demographic information across Iraq, including in the Region and disputed territories.

The data will play a crucial role in shaping future development plans, enhancing social services, and refining resource distribution throughout the country. Iraq’s population is expected to reach approximately 51.5 million by 2030.

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/866501

[Anthea]

Farmers granted access for winter planting

Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk will have temporary access to their lands for planting winter crops until a solution to their land disputes with Arab settlers is resolved, a farmers’ representative told Rudaw on Friday

“After a meeting with Rebwar Taha, the governor of Kirkuk, in the presence of representatives of Arab settlers, except for three pieces of land that are subject to a court decision, we can work on our land this season until the problem is over,” Mohammed Amin, head of the farmers’ defense committee in Sargaran subdistrict, told Rudaw.

Arab settlers had previously presented a letter from the Iraqi military’s Joint Operations Command, claiming ownership of the land based on the 1957 census and preventing Kurds from working the fields.

Amin said that an official letter from the government has resolved the matter.

“A letter from the agriculture ministry was needed and yesterday it was written and sent to Kirkuk province,” Amin said, adding that the instructions will be implemented within the coming days.

Disputes between Arab settlers and Kurdish farmers date back to the Baathist era. Land in several villages was taken away from Kurdish farmers by the Iraqi government in 1975 on the grounds that they were located in prohibited oil zones. Two years later, under Decree No. 949 issued by the Baath Supreme Revolutionary Court, the land was given to Arabs who were resettled in the area from elsewhere in Iraq

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 carried out by former dictator Saddam Hussein. The article has never been fully implemented, however, and land disputes still exist.

In May, tensions between Kurdish farmers and Arab settlers reached a boiling point near the village of Palkana when the settlers prevented farmers from harvesting their crops, citing ownership documents for the land that date back to the Baathist regime.

A bill drafted by Kurdish lawmakers seeking to return confiscated lands to their original owners is currently in the Iraqi parliament. It is one of three major pieces of legislation that are expected to be voted on soon

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/151120241