Iraq's Kirkuk: Kurds face army blockades despite land return ruling

Shafaq News/ Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk’s Dibis district are still unable to access and cultivate their land despite the passage of the Property Restitution Law in the Iraqi Parliament, a local representative said on Sunday.

Kurdish MPs and officials argue that the law aims to return properties to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners, confiscated under eight decisions made by the Council between 1975 and 1979. These decisions were intended to enforce demographic changes in disputed areas.

Mohammed Amin, a representative of the farmers in Dibis, told Shafaq News that Iraqi army forces prevented Kurdish landowners from working their fields in five villages.

"These lands belong to the Kurds, and the head of the Property Restitution Committee has formally urged the Kirkuk governor to begin legal procedures for returning them to their rightful owners," he affirmed, adding that recent clashes in the Shanagha village, where tensions flared between Kurdish farmers and Iraqi army personnel, remain under judicial review.

On February 17, Kirkuk Governor Rakan Saeed confirmed that the soldiers involved in the Shanagha incident had been detained.

The government committee formed by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani later began its work in Kirkuk to investigate the incident that drew widespread condemnation and prompted the dispatch of a high-level delegation to examine the case and its broader implications.