Kurdish farmers in the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil are prevented from farming their lands and watering their crops, and their lot ownerships are transferred to non-Kurdish residents.
Shakar Mardan, a lawyer defending Daquq land grabs, told KurdSat English, “through Iraqi legal and judicial means, and through Daquq district administration, plots of land were returned to their Kurdish owners.
He added that "a Daquq court gave back of close to 1,300 acres of land to the Kurds in the area, and Rusafa Court in Baghdad restored 837 acres to their owners."
The lawyer also noted that the Iraqi Supreme Court approved the rulings to return the lands were, and reversing the decision would be impossible.
Kurdish, Turkmen, and Arab farmers dispute over 300 hectares of farmlands in Kirkuk’s southern Laylan subdistrict. Most of which remain unsettled, and is a source of contention between the different minority groups.
The Iraqi security forces took over the disputed regions following the Kurdistan region 2017 independence referendum; Iraqi security forces have begun enacting policies that make the lives of the Kurdish people in the disputed territories more difficult. In Kirkuk and other towns of the disputed territories, the authorities have banned posters and billboards in Kurdish, and security forces stop farmers from watering their crops. They were denied working on their farms and told to leave.