The escalation began on Monday when Iraqi security forces forcibly barred Kurdish farmers from Kirkuk’s Sargaran subdistrict from accessing their confiscated lands.
Footage captured by Rudaw showed Iraqi army and anti-riot units clashing with civilians as they attempted to enter their farmland. In one instance, an Iraqi security officer is seen as trying to forcefully remove a local from his tractor.
In response, Sudani ordered the Joint Operations Command to “form a high-level committee” to “investigate all aspects of the incident,” read a statement from Iraq’s Security Media Cell. He also dispatched the justice ministry’s undersecretary, Burhan al-Qaisi, to the province to address the issue of “common lands of interest between the federal regions and the Kurdistan Region.”
Sudani called on Iraqi and Kurdish security forces to “adhere to the laws…exercise a high level of self-restraint,” and “act patriotically and wisely” to prevent further tensions.
The head of the Farmers Defense Committee, Mohammed Amin, told Rudaw on Tuesday that “a delegation from Iraq’s Council of Ministers” would meet with the farmers in Kirkuk, adding, “we will announce the results [of these talks] later.”
The recent clashes come despite recent advancements in Iraq’s legislature, including the passage of the Property Restitution Law last month.
The law aims to return lands seized, in Kirkuk and other disputed areas, during the Baath era to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners. These lands were previously given to Arab settlers, a tactic believed to have been part of the Baathist regime’s efforts to alter the demographic makeup in disputed regions.
The escalation in Kirkuk sparked wide-scale reactions from the Kurdistan Region.
The Kurdistan Region’s Presidency slammed the Monday incident as “rejected and unacceptable,” while the Kurdistan Regional Government described the Iraqi army’s use of force as “unconstitutional” and “contradicting the principles of the new Iraq.” Erbil urged an immediate halt to military intervention and called for perpetrators to be brought to justice.
This is not the first such incident. In November, Iraqi armed forces also blocked farmers from preparing their fields for the winter season. Kurdish farmers at the time also blamed Arab settlers for preventing them from accessing their lands.
