Kurdish Blocs unite to support law reversing Baathist land decisions
Shafaq News/ On Thursday, Soran Omar, a parliamentarian fromAl-Sulaimaniyah, announced that the five Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi Parliamenthave united to support a proposed law aimed at overturning the Baath Party’sland decisions related to agricultural lands in areas covered by Article 140 ofthe Iraqi Constitution.
Omar posted on his Facebook account that the Kurdish blocs have pledgedto vote in favor of the bill and stressed the importance of preventing anyobstruction by Shiite and Sunni groups.
“The Kurdish blocs recently held a meeting with Hadi al-Amiri, Chairmanof the Government Committee for the Implementation of Article 140, to discussthe proposed legislation.”
The Kurdish parties in the Iraqi parliaments are the KurdistanDemocratic Party (KDP) (32 seats), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party(17 seats), the Gorran Movement (4 seats), and the New Generation Movement (9seats).
Omar noted that previous Baathist land decisions have consistentlyhindered the restoration of rights to their original owners.
“Six meetings have been conducted with Shiite and Sunni blocs, attendedby key figures including Acting Speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi, Deputy SpeakerShakhawan Abdullah, Justice Minister Khalid Shwani, and Hadi al-Amiri. Thepurpose of these meetings is to secure the bill’s passage without oppositionfrom other blocs.”
Earlier this week, a source told Shafaq News Agency that al-Amiridiscussed the potential passage of the law in parliament. The discussionsfocused on returning properties to their original owners, particularly in thedisputed governorate of Kirkuk. Details of the meeting, including any agreementon advancing the law, were not disclosed to the media.
The Baath regime’s decrees in the 1970s led to the confiscation ofproperties from Kurdish and Turkmen farmers, which were then redistributed toArab settlers. This policy aimed to change the ethnic makeup of Kirkuk andsuppress opposition. The forced expropriations and resettlements causeddisplacement and increased ethnic tensions between Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen.
