DISPLACED ARAB FARMERS IN KIRKUK UNHAPPY OVER DISPLACEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000120

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, ECON, IRMO/CRRPD, (WARNER),NCT, L

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KISL PHUM KIDE IZ
SUBJECT: DISPLACED ARAB FARMERS IN KIRKUK UNHAPPY OVER DISPLACEMENT

CLASSIFIED BY: Jim Bigus, PRT Team Leader, Kirkuk, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. A farmers' union in Kirkuk province -
claiming to represent 5,000 displaced families - said that one
of the United States' key mistakes in Iraq was not taking more
initiative to help solve the internally displaced persons (IDP)
problem. The farmers claimed that following Operation Iraqi
Freedom Kurds from As Sulaymaniyah confiscated land Saddam had
given them, displacing them and their families. They argued
that the Kurds controlled the Commission for the Resolution of
Real Property Disputes in Kirkuk. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) IPAO on April 18 met with four representatives from
the Arab Displaced Farmers' Union to discuss land disputes and
IDP issues in Kirkuk province. The reps said the union
represents around 5,000 families in Kirkuk villages, spanning
from Altun Kupri to Daquk, Dibs, and Lelan. Union members
defend the traditional farming system in Iraq and the rights of
displaced farmers. Our contacts claimed that one of the United
States' key mistakes in Iraq was not taking more initiative to
help solve the IDP problem.

Saddam Gave Them the Land, Kurds Took It
--------------


3. (SBU) The farmers claimed that following Operation Iraqi
Freedom, Kurds from As Sulaymaniyah confiscated their land,
displacing them and their families. The farmers said they now
were jobless and homeless and were seeking their rights. They
requested either the return of their land or new land. Our
contacts stressed that they wanted to solve the issue
peacefully.


4. (SBU) The Arab farmers were given the land in 1968 by a
government contract. The union members said the Ba'athist
regime at that time took from large Turcoman land-owners plots
of rural, uncultivated land in Kirkuk province and dispersed it
among several Arab farmers. Our contacts said that since 1968
those Arab farmers had invested millions of dinars into their
farms: cultivating land, building homes, and digging artesian
wells. The farmers lost farming equipment, generators, pumps,
tractors and other vehicles. Our contacts estimated that each
farmer on average lost around 75 million dinars.

Charges over Real Property Commission
--------------


5. (SBU) The union members argued that the Kurds controlled
the Kirkuk office of the Commission and said the Commission had
not replied to their claims. They said they believed the Kurds
closed the Commission office in Dibs to prevent Arabs in that
region from submitting claims. Our contacts contended that the
Commission's former chairman in Kirkuk could not act without the
KRG's authorization, and since he resisted that policy, the
Kurds replaced him. The farmers claimed Kurds from As
Sulaymaniyah ordered an entire Arab village to evacuate their
homes. When the Arabs resisted, Kurdish authorities showed them
a memorandum of authorization from the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG). Our contacts alleged that Baghdad is unaware
of these actions.

Exhausting All Options, Receiving No Assistance
-------------- --


6. (SBU) The union members lamented that after three years of
trying to regain their homes, equipment, and land, they had
achieved nothing. They said they had met with Iraq's two
previous Prime Ministers and Presidents, as well as the U.S. and
other embassies in Baghdad, but received no response. The
farmers claimed that Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and
Migration officials told them that only the United States could
make decisions on such inquiries. Our contacts complained that
this counsel undermined Iraqi and U.S. officials' claims that
Iraq now was a sovereign nation and that Iraqis made the
decisions.


7. (SBU) The union representatives said they most recently had
met with the Arab bloc of the Kirkuk provincial council, who
recommended they meet with the United States Regional Embassy
Office. The Arab council members told them that the Arab
council members were in a weak position because they were unable
to override the Kurdish-dominated provincial council.

Displaced Farmers Request Humanitarian Assistance
-------------- --------------


8. (SBU) When asked where the 5,000 displaced families were
living, the union members said that some were living with
relatives in or around Kirkuk city, while others were living in

KIRKUK 00000120 002 OF 002


tents. Our contacts said that most were just trying to earn a
living, seeking to find city jobs and receiving no government
assistance.

Comment
--------------


9. (SBU) The Commission does not have jurisdiction over cases
that arise after April 9, 2003, and therefore is not authorized
to hear complaints that farmland was taken from the Arabs
subsequent to the fall of the former regime. Indeed, the
parties most likely to have a sustainable claim before the
Commission would be the Turkomans whose land was taken in 1968
and given to Arab farmers.


10. (C) Insofar as Arab farmers have a sustainable claim for
unlawful eviction or loss of equipment, they would need to seek
a remedy in the Iraqi civil court system. That said, the
Ba'athist regime gave the farmers a present of Turcoman land,
which the Arab farmers then got to farm rent-free for over three
decades. A court might be disinclined to provide a remedy,
given these circumstances.


10. (C) In direct contrast to the farmers' complaints, the
previous head of the Commission's Kirkuk office (and Kurds
generally) charge the Commission's sympathies in Baghdad have
been with Ba'athists and not with the Kurds. The Kurdish
complaint could have some truth to it, given the glacial pace of
the Commission's efforts in the north. For its part, the
Commission has consistently stated that it is the Kurds
themselves who are not cooperating with the work of the
Commission; the unauthorized closure of the Dibs office by local
Kurdish authorities shows the depth of the bad blood between
Kurdish authorities and the Commission.


11. (C) At the same time, we would not put it past the
Kurdistan Regional Government or Kirkuk Kurdish provincial
officials to overstep legal bounds to evict Arabs. The
conflicting countercharges show that further neglect of the IDP
issue in northern Iraq will fuel ethnic disparity and exacerbate
tensions. Whether deserving or not, Arab farmers, who overnight
lost farms worth millions of dinars and now are living in tents,
will remain pacified only for so long. Complaints such as these
underline the importance of supporting adequate means of redress
and support for displaced persons.
BIGUS