Iraqi army imposes farming ban on Kurdish villages in Kirkuk

KIRKUK — The Iraqi Army has prohibited Kurdish farmers from cultivating wheat and barley on about 12,500 acres of agricultural land in five villages within the Sargaran sub-district of Kirkuk’s Dubz district, according to local farmers.

The affected villages are Shenaghe, Gabarake, Palkane, Sarbashakh and Kharabe. The army extended this measure with a new restriction announced today affecting several villages in Kirkuk’s Altun Kupri sub-district. Local farmers have been ordered not to harvest their agricultural products, according to an Iraqi army directive.

Ahmed Farhad, a farmer from the village of Galozi, told 964media he is frustrated. “At the beginning of the planting season, the army blocked our cultivation efforts and restricted movement,” Farhad said. “We had to sneak into our own villages to farm.”

Farhad told 964media of a roadside seizure of produce yesterday: “As were transporting our produce to Kirkuk, two vehicles ahead of me were stopped and seized with their produce, and the drivers were detained.” He was trailing slightly behind the first two vehicles and was informed by phone that his colleagues had been arrested at a Kirkuk checkpoint. As of today, the cases of the detained drivers have been forwarded to the court.

Mohammed Fazil, another local farmer from the Sargaran sub-district, told 964media about the severe financial burdens imposed by these restrictions, especially given the investments made in the current crop season.

A security source familiar with the situation said some of the affected villages in Altun Kupri had not previously faced issues but are now being restricted by the 8th Brigade Command of the Iraqi Army on suspicions of smuggling their produce into Kirkuk.

This source denied allegations that the farmers’ produce was contraband, attributing the heightened security measures to the ongoing territorial disputes between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces over the Qara Salem area. They also indicated plans for a committee to visit both the Iraqi Army and Peshmerga to resolve these issues.

Amid these developments, farmers from Galozi village held a protest today, calling on Kurdish officials to support their cause.

Hiwa Abdullah, an official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Kirkuk, told his party’s Kurdsat TV station, “The [Iraqi] army should consider both parties [Kurdish farmers and the Arabs], not only the Arabs given lands during the former [Baath] regime. The army’s support should not favor them against Kurds. The army must strive to remain impartial. Any required security interventions should be handled by local Kirkuk police rather than the military.”

Shakhawan Abdullah, deputy speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and a prominent member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kirkuk, addressed ongoing land dispute issues during a press conference today: “I have communicated with the operations commander, who assured that there would [soon] be no obstructions. I also spoke with the [Iraqi] minister of defense.”

The problem is linked to land ownership disputes, particularly agricultural lands. These lands, originally owned by Kurdish residents, were redistributed to Arab settlers during the Baath regime’s Arabization campaign to change the demographics of the oil-rich region against the Kurdish majority.

Kurdish farmers say the long-standing policies initiated by the Baath regime aimed at altering the demographics of Kirkuk through Arabization continue to affect them today. This process involved settling Arab populations into the governorate, often by displacing Kurdish landowners.

The issue remains a significant point of contention among the local Kurdish community, who view it as an extension of past injustices perpetuated by Iraqi military during the Baath era.

The ongoing disputes over land rights are particularly pronounced during the planting and harvesting seasons, when tensions frequently escalate. Kurdish farmers have reported receiving preemptive warnings from the Iraqi military, advising them against using lands claimed to belong to Arab settlers. Despite these warnings, the Kurdish landowners persist in cultivating these areas.

The land is part of the territories disputed under Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, which aims to determine the status of contested regions through demographic normalization and a reversal of the Arabization campaign, followed by a public referendum. However, the constitutionally-mandated deadline for this referendum, set for no later than Dec. 31, 2007, has long since passed.

During the war on ISIS, Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of these disputed territories. However, in 2017, following the Kurdistan independence referendum, the Iraqi army and Shia militias reasserted control over these areas, an event solemnly remembered by the Kurdish community as “October 16th.” It marked a significant reversal in Kurdish territorial claims and has added layers of complexity to the already strained relations between the Kurdistan Region and the central Iraqi government.