PM Al-Sudani moves to enforce Property Restitution Law
Shafaq News/ Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, directed the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers to take the necessary steps to implement the Property Restitution Law, Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Shakhawan Abdullah, revealed on Sunday.
Abdullah said in a statement, “Al-Sudani signed the recommendations of the special committee tasked with resolving the issue of Kurdish farmers in the Sirkiran subdistrict of Kirkuk. We had submitted a request to the Prime Minister on February 17 regarding farmers' issues and the implementation of the law to annul the decisions of the dissolved Ba'ath Party.”
On February 17, several Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk tried to cultivate lands returned to them by a court order, but an army unit blocked their efforts.
Kirkuk Governor Rebwar Taha had previously announced that there are about 14 judicial decisions concerning agricultural lands totaling about 1,500 dunams, while no issues exist with approximately 18,000 dunams owned by Kurdish farmers.
The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2019 the continued applicability of Article 140, which aims to undo the demographic changes imposed by Saddam Hussein’s regime in disputed areas and to hold a census and referendum on whether these territories should join the Kurdistan Region. Although the article was supposed to be fully implemented by 2007, its implementation was delayed due to security and political challenges. The court ruled that the provisions of Article 140 remain in effect until they are fully carried out.
