ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Following a ruling issued by Iraq's Tuz Khurmatu court to transfer over 500 dunams of Kurdish farmers’ land to Arab settlers in the disputed Tuz Khurmatu district of Saladin province, the Iraqi military on Wednesday attempted to force Kurdish farmers in the village of Tapasawz to fill out waivers and surrender ownership of their land.

The Kurdish farmers, however, insisted they will not give up the lands and have begun a sit-in protest against the move, setting up tents and asserting that they will not concede to any military or legal pressure.

One such farmer told The New Region that “under no condition will we agree to hand over an inch of our land to [the settlers]; this land belongs to our grandfathers,” and stressed, “We are ready to die for our lands.”

“They are here to take our lands by force,” he continued, referencing the Iraqi soldiers deployed in the area to enforce the handover process. “They want to defend the Arabs; we don’t have any [military] backing; we are citizens.”

When asked if they are ready to give up the lands, another farmer answered, “Only over our dead bodies,” noting they had nowhere else to go and that handing over the farmland is not an option.

Tapasawz is located within the disputed areas between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. During the reign of the previous Baathist regime, Kurds in these areas were forcibly displaced and Arab settlers were imported in their place as a part of the regime’s demographic displacement and Arabization efforts.

Even after the overthrow of the regime, the new Iraqi government has failed to address the conflict concerning land ownership in the area, despite the existence of an article in the 2005 constitution to resolve land disputes.

Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution mandates a process to outline a clear and definitive boundary in the disputed areas by introducing a referendum to determine the will of the residents living on the lands. The implementation of the article has been continuously delayed by the Iraqi government.

The article also requires the reversal of the Arabization policies introduced by the former Baathist regime.

Despite the consitutional precendents, Iraqi forces have repeatedly attempted to seize Kurdish properties in Kirkuk since federal forces occupied the majority Kurdish city in October 2017.

In February, federal soldiers prevented Kurdish farmers from cultivating their lands in northern Kirkuk’s Sargaran subdistrict. The attack prompted condemnations from Kurdish leaders, with former Kurdistan Region President and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani labeling it a “chauvinistic” act.

In early 2024, Iraqi army forces were stationed in Kirkuk’s Newroz neighborhood for several weeks, during which they seized multiple Kurdish homes and ordered the families to vacate, claiming the neighborhood was the official property of the defense ministry.

The land restitution law, ratified by the Iraqi presidency in February, seeks to address property disputes stemming from resolutions enacted during the Baath regime’s Revolutionary Command Council era. The regime transferred the ownership of hundreds of Kurdish and Turkmen properties in Kirkuk to the defense ministry and the municipality starting from the 1970s

Reporting by Hevi Karam