Diyala: 13,000 pending lawsuits over stolen lands still pending since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime

Shafaq News/ The official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party organizations in Diyala, Sherko Tawfiq, revealed that there are 13,000 pending lawsuits for Kurds over stolen properties and lands.

Tawfiq told Shafaq News Agency, that these lawsuits concern the Kurds' agricultural and residential lands in the disputed areas. The property disputes have not been resolved before, for partisan, sectarian, and political reasons.

Tawfiq confirmed that the lands stolen from the Kurds were not returned to their original owners in the Kurdish areas in Diyala, despite legal evidence and official documents, but the lawsuits are still pending since the fall of the previous regime until today.

He pointed out, "the previous regime adopted the policy of Arabization, emptying the mixed areas of the Kurdish and Turkmen population and replacing them with Arabs, from Khanaqin in Diyala to the Sinjar district in Nineveh."

The former Iraqi regime led by Saddam Hussein had made extensive demographic changes in Kirkuk Governorate and other disputed areas.

The former regime adopted a systematic policy of displacing Kurds and Turkmen from these areas, bringing Arabs and granting Kurds and Turkmen's lands and properties.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution stipulates removing demographic change policies in those areas, and then conducting a census, before conducting a referendum in which the residents of those areas choose to join the Kurdistan Region or the Federal Government.

The article was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2007, but the Kurdistan Region accused Baghdad of delaying its implementation.