The Arabization of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region?! – Part IV

Salih Zhajlayi | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

Some comments on Kak Rebin Herdi’s writing under the title: “Is There a Danger of Arabization?”

In the third part of this topic, I especially expressed my own opinion regarding the writing of my brother Kak Rebin Herdi. However, there are still many other points that I want to discuss in this part and explain more clearly.

Kak Rebin says in the sixth point of his article:

“The arrival of Arab citizens in the way it is happening today, without a planned policy from the central government behind it, is not only natural and does not lead to Arabization, but there is even a possibility that those people could become Kurdistanized, just like the migration of millions of Kurds to European cities, where they all became citizens of those countries, rather than making those European cities Kurdish.”

Indeed, if a complete book were written only about this opinion of Kak Rebin, it still would not reach a complete conclusion, because this is a very broad topic that can be analyzed from many different perspectives.

The migration of Kurds to European countries and their becoming citizens of those countries is very different from Arab citizens coming to Kurdistan and settling there.

European countries are each independent. The borders of those countries are defined and protected according to international law.

Therefore, even if citizens of other countries around the world go to any of these European countries, they do not become a danger. In the end, they either have to become citizens of those countries or remain there as guests.

However, the Kurdistan Region is not an independent state; it is part of Iraq. According to the law, Arab citizens also have the right to settle in the Kurdistan Region and consider it their own country.

But the question is this: In Iraq, are Kurdish citizens equal to Arab citizens?

Is it not clear before everyone’s eyes that in Kirkuk, Kurds are being removed from their own homeland, while Kirkuk is originally part of the Kurdistan Region?

Well, does anything like this happen in any European country?

You can see the process of Arabization happening with your own eyes every day, and it has continued from the establishment of the Iraqi state until today. The Arabization of the Kurdistan Region is also an inseparable part of this Arabization process.

So how can the arrival of such a large number of Arabs in large waves to the Kurdistan Region not be considered a danger and still be considered natural, and how can it be compared to the migration of Kurds to Europe and their settlement there?

Kak Rebin says that the arrival of Arab citizens is not a danger if there is no planned government policy behind it.

I say: Yes, there is a planned policy by the Iraqi government and other Arab countries behind it, under the cover of Islam and through political Islamic parties that are against the Kurds. This has secretly been put into practice for a long time.

After the 1991 uprising, Gulf countries, through the Islamic Union, tried to spread the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Kurdistan Region.

Well, isn’t this a plan?

The Islamic parties have also damaged the relationships among Muslim citizens of the Kurdistan Region, and today they have become opponents of each other.

Isn’t this a program?

Have you forgotten when Afrin was occupied and Kurds were displaced? With money from Qatar, camps were being built for imported Arabs on Kurdish land.

Well, do you not ask what Qatar’s hostility toward the Kurds is?

Does this mean that all Arabs are against Kurds?

Let us say that it was Saddam Hussein’s plan to force Arab citizens to settle in Kurdish areas, and that this happened by force.

But Saddam Hussein no longer exists. Why do those Arabs not return to their original lands?

Is it reasonable that Kurds fought in 1961 over Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Jalawla, and Shengal, and now they should wash their hands of these places and prepare the ground so that Sulaimani, Erbil, and Duhok also become Arabized?

Should we accept that, for the benefit of some unpatriotic officials and greedy businessmen, Arabs can come in large numbers and settle in the Kurdistan Region as if it were something normal?

How can you and I, who witnessed the era of the Anfal campaign, the chemical attack on Halabja, and many other tragedies in Kurdistan, who either experienced them ourselves or saw those tragedies with our own eyes, now come and make excuses for settling Arabs in the heart of our homeland and consider this something normal and natural?

A very important point that I want to mention is this:

What Saddam tried to do against the Kurds for many years, he was not able to achieve. But in the end, the Kurds themselves did it against themselves.

First: The forced expansion of the Arabization process. However, today Kurds themselves are expanding it voluntarily.

Second: In 1978, Saddam moved villagers living along the border areas several kilometers deep into other areas so that the Peshmerga forces would no longer have places to stay.

But instead of Kurdish authorities trying to rebuild all of those villages and support the farmers, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, while fighting each other, turned every young person they could find into police and security forces. As a result, the villages became empty.

If people were forced to leave their homes in the past, they would return to the villages and mountains.

But today, areas such as all of Garmiyan, Chamchamal, and many other areas have been emptied. We no longer have geographical depth where we can find shelter and retreat during times of attack.

The enemies of the Kurds are also continuously working through Islam to wash people’s brains.

We have religious clerics who freely speak through microphones and threaten those who talk about the dishdasha, saying: “Speaking negatively about the dishdasha is a red line.”

Meaning, if someone says that the dishdasha is bad, they will cut his tongue, and there is no one who dares to say even a single word against them.

Well, isn’t this a planned program under a hidden cover to Arabize the Kurdistan Region?

A real estate office owner says:

“I am proud of myself for selling property to Arab citizens because I do not make any distinction.”

But why do those Arabs who come to Kurdistan not wear Kurdish shalwar instead of the dishdasha and learn the Kurdish language?

Is this really something normal and natural?

Well, why does Qatar provide money to the Islamic Union to build mosques, but does not tell them to build schools?

Is it acceptable that 5,000 people in the city of Halabja were killed by chemical attacks, and now there is a program to make girls wear head coverings from childhood and wash their minds?

Do you think this is all happening by coincidence and without a plan?

Kak Rebin compares the migration of Arab citizens from central and southern Iraq to the Kurdistan Region with the migration of Kurdish citizens to European countries.

Even if that comparison were true, the large-scale migration of Kurds and other people from around the world to Europe is not without problems or difficulties, and those countries are not happy about this large wave of migration either.

The reasons that caused citizens of other countries to migrate to Western European countries were the following:

First: In the past, Western countries and the former Soviet Union had conflicts and were against each other. Therefore, anyone who migrated from the Eastern Bloc to the Western Bloc was accepted.

Second: Many times, they needed workers, and they accepted young people so they could work in their factories.

Third: In recent years, as a result of wars between countries around the world, people have moved in large numbers toward European countries.

Examples include the wars of the Arab Spring, the conflict between the United States and Iran, the war in Afghanistan, and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

There was also the migration of one million people at once from Syria to Germany.

Because these migrations were not normal, natural, or based on a planned process, Europe’s situation became very difficult, and today European countries are facing financial and economic problems.

Above all, there is the danger to national security.

The people who moved toward European countries do not share the same culture as those countries. Refugees have gained a negative image in the eyes of many people in those countries. They are viewed as a problem because many of them do not work and live at the expense of those societies.

The issue of separation between husbands and wives among refugee communities has become one of the sources of many problems.

The large number of refugees in those countries has changed the appearance of their cities.

A city like London, which was built more than two thousand years ago and was one of the most beautiful and magnificent cities in the world, has had its beauty damaged because of the large number of refugees.

If you visit central London today, it is rare to see an English person. However, in the blink of an eye, you can see hundreds of people wearing turbans, women wearing head coverings and veils, and men wearing dishdashas and agals.

Many neighborhoods in central London no longer have a single English person.

This phenomenon exists in many European cities and continues to increase. Today, many countries are working on decisions to prevent women wearing face coverings or full veils from entering markets or workplaces.

To bring this discussion to an end, I live in Sweden, in the city of Gothenburg, which is the second-largest city in Sweden.

Four large neighborhoods have been created, with tens of thousands of people living in them, where it is rare to see a Swedish person.

When you go to those neighborhoods, you feel as if you are living in Somalia or another African country.

The gathering of all these foreign people in those neighborhoods, while maintaining the same culture of their own countries, does not mean that they become Swedish citizens in terms of integration. Instead, they are also changing the demographics of the cities.

Worse than all of this, hundreds of gangs involved in theft, fraud, drug dealing, and smuggling have been created, and shootings and killings happen every day.

Only in this city where I live, nearly 20 Kurds have killed each other in conflicts related to drug dealing, and a number of others are in prison.

Unfortunately for us Kurds, the leader of the drug-dealing gangs is also Kurdish.

This situation exists among many other nations as well.

Therefore, today being a refugee is a very difficult issue, and most political parties, during election periods, turn opposition to refugee arrivals into a slogan and a program in order to gain more votes.

Therefore, from now on, it cannot be expected that refugees who go to European countries can easily integrate into those societies, and that the people of those countries will immediately see them as their own citizens.

I brought these examples because I do not want Kak Rebin to think that the migration of Kurdish citizens or other nations to Europe is something completely normal, and that as soon as they arrive, they immediately become part of the citizens of those countries.

If this is the situation in Europe, then how can it be expected that the arrival of large numbers of Arab citizens to the Kurdistan Region is something normal and natural, and that later all of them will become citizens of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Region will become a respected and honorable place?

A person can only imagine such a thing in a dream.

In the end, I ask you to read the article by the respected Dr. Siwayli, which he wrote to the Prime Minister regarding the large number of Arabs in the city of Erbil.

In one part, he says:

“In the city of Erbil, among the young people inside the city, thirty percent of the residents are Arabs.”

Unfortunately, the high-ranking officials of the government, because they are busy making themselves wealthy, are no longer aware of what is happening inside their own home and what dangers they have created the conditions for themselves through their own actions.

Therefore, in my opinion, any person or group that, under any excuse, creates the conditions for or gives legitimacy to the arrival of Arabs and their settlement in the Kurdistan Region is directly becoming an enemy of the Kurds.

Salih Zhajlayi, one of the political figures in Sulaimani city, Iraqi Kurdistan, and formerly the Deputy Head of the General Assembly of the Gorran (Change) Movement, is currently working independently in Sulaimani.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on July 31, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

The post Who’s Really Arabizing Kurdistan? It’s Not Baghdad – Part IV appeared first on iKurd News.

The Arabization of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region?! – Part III

Salih Zhajlayi | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

In this article, I would like to bring a few points to the attention of my dear readers regarding a writing by my dear brother, Mr. Rebin Herdi, which was published on the Awene website under the title: “Is There a Danger of Arabization?”

Mr. Rebin has pointed out that, for some time, rumors have been spreading about the danger of Arabization, and that this was the reason he wrote his article. In reality, I personally first came across this concern in a writing by the highly respected Dr. Burhan Yasin, who discussed in great detail the danger of the process of Arabization. Later, I also wrote an article about this issue and published it on Facebook. After that, many other people here and there also spoke about this danger and expressed their opinions.

Recently, I came across another article by the highly respected Mr. Niaz Saeed Ali, which was published on the Shar Press website, and it completely shocked me.

This respected writer republished one of his own articles from 15 years ago about how, in 2016, the Governor of Sulaimani, based on a proposal from the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce, requested that the governor at the time issue a decision allowing Arab citizens to buy apartments and properties and register them in their names, something that had been prohibited until then.

The governor immediately accepted the proposal. On Friday, June 3, 2016, he issued the decision, and on Monday, June 6, 2016, he made the decision official and put it into effect.

That decision had many negative consequences, and the increase in the number of Arab citizens in the Kurdistan Region has caused great concern because, in the future, it could create a very serious danger for Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

Therefore, I was also very concerned, and until now I have written two articles about “Arabization Arabization of the Kurdistan Region.” This third part is dedicated to a number of comments about Mr. Rebin Herdi’s article.

Before going into the details of the discussion, I would like to talk about three points:

First: I consider Mr. Rebin a dear friend of mine. However, my views on this issue are one hundred percent opposite to his views. I consider the arguments he has presented to show that there is no danger of Arabization to be very weak. His opinion is also opposite to the opinion of the majority, as can be seen from the comments people have written under his article.

Second: Other people have also written similar things, and I personally would never have expected that, on such an important and dangerous issue, Mr. Rebin would think in this way and have such an opinion. However, everyone is free to think in their own way.

Third: If Mr. Rebin believes that the way other people think is incorrect, that it is closer to the thinking of nationalist and chauvinistic people, and that such thinking belongs to a past era, I do not know how accurate this is, and I cannot speak on his behalf. But I would like to say this:

Personally, I have very little feeling of chauvinism or nationalism. In my view, all human beings, regardless of differences in culture, language, and religion, ultimately come together and are equal in their humanity.

I do not hate an Arab citizen because I am Kurdish and he is Arab. My problem is with that Arab person who considers himself superior to me, who believes he has the right to take away my rights, remove me from my own homeland, deny me everything, and treat me as a slave and someone who must obey him.

The truth is that all the countries among which we Kurds have been divided look at us in this way.

Does Mr. Rebin accept these views and agree with them?

Now I will begin answering Mr. Rebin’s article point by point:

1- In his first point, Mr. Rebin considers the arrival of this large number of Arab citizens to be something completely normal. He says that the arrival of several Arab families in the major cities of Kurdistan will not cause demographic change unless it is part of a planned policy by the central government and a special budget is allocated for it.

My response is:

We are not an independent government, so we cannot be completely free of danger. Look at the Arabization process in Khanaqin, Saadiyah, Jalawla, Kirkuk, Makhmur, and Shengal, which separated these areas from the Kurdish population. The geographical distance between those cities and the cities of Sulaimani, Erbil, Duhok, and other towns is not large. If the situation continues as it is now, in the long term these areas could also become the property of Arabs.

2- Mr. Rebin says in this point:

The number of Arabs who have settled in the major cities of the Kurdistan Region, no matter how large it is, will not have an impact on the percentage of Kurdish residents because they are a very small minority and are not even noticeable.

Then he says:

After this current generation of Arabs, the second and third generations will be different from the first generation; they will mix with Kurds, and they themselves will identify as Kurds.

This is a very weak possibility because Arabs have their own private schools and study in the Arabic language. This is also a policy of the central government to ensure that those who are born in the Kurdistan Region never lose their identity and do not dissolve into Kurdish society.

As Dr. Yasin has written, there are 179 Arabic-language schools in the Kurdistan Region. There are currently one million three hundred thirty-two thousand Arabs living in the Kurdistan Region, representing 26 percent of the population of the Kurdistan Region.

Now, if only 10 percent of people today understand this and feel concerned about the future danger, do they not think about what will happen if this process continues and thousands of apartments are sold to Arabs for the benefit and profits of greedy officials, profit-seeking businessmen, and people who sell their homeland?

After another 20 years, what percentage will Arab citizens represent?

Or do we not need to think about the future and only focus on the food on today’s table?

3- Mr. Rebin has pointed out that the conditions and weather in southern Iraq are very difficult, while the climate of the Kurdistan Region is pleasant, and that this has caused many people to travel toward the Iraqi Kurdistan Region for tourism.

Well, this is something to be happy about. The arrival of Arabs for tourism is very different from their coming to Kurdistan, settling there, and changing the demographics of the region.

Instead of building apartments, let the government and greedy investors create tourist sites, establish factories, and build investment projects so that the economic infrastructure of the region becomes stronger.

Is building only apartments a sign of economic development?

In another part, Mr. Rebin says:

Because of delayed salaries and the poor economic situation in the region, the market of the Kurdistan Region is increasingly looking toward the arrival of Arabs.

No one disagrees with that, and we are not against Arabs coming to the Kurdistan Region. But as we said, let us create the conditions for them to come for tourism, not to settle here.

Is it necessary to sell the Kurdistan Region just because Arab citizens come to buy goods and property?

4- Mr. Rebin says:

This region has been established according to the law, and Kurds and Arabs have equal rights. Everyone has the right to live anywhere in Iraq, and everyone has equal rights.

However, Mr. Rebin has forgotten that Kurdish citizens, as individuals, do not want to settle in other parts of Iraq because:

We have two cultures that are very different from one another.

Kurds have always been oppressed by the dominant and powerful Arab nation.

On the other hand, the environment and climate of the Kurdistan Region encourage the continuous migration of Arabs toward it.

Most importantly, the Arab population in Iraq is increasing rapidly and continuously. The environment and climate of central and southern Iraq, along with the availability of the necessary conditions for continued life there, cannot accommodate such a large population increase. Therefore, the arrival of Arabs in large numbers to the Kurdistan Region and their settlement there will have negative consequences.

In another sense, the desire and wish that Arab citizens have to settle in the Kurdistan Region is something Kurdish citizens do not have. As a result, we Kurds will be the first to suffer the consequences.

Mr. Rebin says:

The environment of the Kurdistan Region has caused Arab citizens to turn toward it.

But our concern is this:

Has Kurdistan made any plans for the dangers that may result from this migration to the Kurdistan Region?

Or is the only purpose to allow greedy and corrupt Kurds to sell as many apartments as possible and share the profits with officials who sell their homeland, while people in the market increase their business by selling fake honey, pistachios, sunflower seeds, and dried fruits, and the homeland is left behind like a torn net?

5- At the end of his article, Mr. Rebin says:

The increase in the number of Arabs in this way is natural, and the demographics of the Kurdistan Region will never change. Just as the migration of millions of Kurds, Turks, Arabs, and other peoples to European countries resulted in them becoming citizens and mixing with the cultures of those countries, rather than making those countries Kurdish, Arab, or Turkish.

In my opinion, Mr. Rebin has made a mistake here to some extent.

This is because I still have many other comments regarding Mr. Rebin’s points; however, this discussion will not end here. I do not want the article to become too long and cause readers to become tired of reading.

I will complete the remaining points in the fourth part of this discussion so that people can better understand the danger of the arrival and increase of Arab citizens and not view it as a normal phenomenon.

Because, in the end, a thousand regrets are not worth a bunch of radishes.

Salih Zhajlayi, one of the political figures in Sulaimani city, Iraqi Kurdistan, and formerly the Deputy Head of the General Assembly of the Gorran (Change) Movement, is currently working independently in Sulaimani.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on July 26, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

The post Who’s Really Arabizing Kurdistan? It’s Not Baghdad – Part III appeared first on iKurd News.

Selling the homeland to Arabs is never an act of brotherhood

Hoger Sheikh | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

An Open Letter to Mr. Massoud Barzani

Although I have sent you two or three open letters before through newspapers, I doubt that you have seen any of them. Perhaps the reason is that those around you do not allow such matters to reach you, or perhaps you personally may not have the interest or opportunity to read this kind of material. I cannot say for certain.

Even so, this time I have decided once again to send you this open letter. Although I would have preferred that only you read it rather than it being published openly, I hope it will not be like knocking on cold iron once again. We have been repeating these things for many years, yet nothing positive has come from them.

Dear Mr. Massoud,

From the time of your respected father and grandfather, and through what history, or what has reached us over time, has shown, you, in particular, have been at the heart of the events, revolutions, and tragedies of your nation since childhood. Your books also show that you are well aware of the details concerning Kurdistan, its occupiers, and the major powers.

You also know very well that all the revolutions of our nation have been carried out for the purpose of preserving our national identity and our homeland. Clearly, this was the desire of our nation, and for this very goal, hundreds of thousands of our people were killed through the Anfal campaign, chemical attacks, executions by hanging, acid pits, and many other crimes.

From the very first congress of the Ba’ath Party, one of its objectives was the destruction and assimilation of the Kurds. What Saddam did was the direct implementation of that goal. They worked toward it step by step.

Until the fall of that regime, vast areas of Kirkuk, Mosul, Diyala, and Kut were Arabized. Even within the three cities of the so-called autonomous region, thousands of villages and small towns were destroyed, because the regime knew that every village was an economically productive unit. At the same time, every village also served as a base for resistance, the revolution, and the Peshmerga.

All of this happened. Yet, until the uprising, Arabs, including security personnel and their associates, did not even dare enter many neighborhoods and alleyways in the cities.

Their fear was so great that, in Sulaimani city, many streets in neighborhoods such as Malikandi, Kaniskan, and Chwarbakh were avoided because they were considered centers of danger.

Until the fall of that regime, vast areas of Kirkuk, Mosul, Diyala, and Kut were Arabized. Even within the three cities of the so-called autonomous region, thousands of villages and small towns were destroyed because the regime knew that every village was an economically productive unit. At the same time, every village also served as a base for resistance, the revolution, and the Peshmerga.

All of this happened. Yet, until the uprising, Arabs, including security personnel and their associates, did not even dare enter many neighborhoods and alleyways in the cities.

Their fear was so great that, in Sulaimani, many streets in neighborhoods such as Malikandi, Kaniskan, and Chwarbakh were avoided because they were considered centers of danger.

But now, unfortunately, the autonomous region, which was once a single administrative unit, has in practice become two separate zones. In both zones, cities have expanded, and the political parties have described this expansion as “development” and “growth.”

However, this urban expansion has also caused the small number of villagers who remained in their hometowns to move into the cities.

One of the main reasons for this was the creation of dependence among villagers by giving them government salaries without meaningful work, making them unemployed, silent salary earners so that during elections they would become obedient followers and guaranteed votes for those in power.

At the same time, Kurdish residents from Kirkuk, Khurmatu, Makhmour, Khanaqin, Jalawla, Kifri, and other areas have been leaving their homes, while others have continued moving into those regions.

Even more alarming is the construction of hundreds of apartment buildings and housing projects in the name of “investment.” Many of these so-called investors have become millionaires, and some have even become billionaires.

If this continues, they will eventually cover all the land of the Kurdistan Region with houses and apartment buildings.

The media outlets affiliated with the political parties, of which there are hundreds, constantly run advertisements in both Kurdish and Arabic, encouraging people from central and southern Iraq to come to the Kurdistan Region and become owners of apartments and houses.

This nonstop race to build apartments and houses and make money from them has reached the point where the number of non-Kurdish residents moving to Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok is becoming nearly equal to the Kurdish population.

In fact, if you walk through the streets of these cities today, you hear Arabic almost as much as you hear Kurdish.

Not only that, but in Sulaimani there are now many shops selling Arab agal headbands and traditional Arab abaya garments.

There are even mosque preachers who deliver sermons about the virtue of wearing the dishdasha, while, in practice, they are helping bury Kurdish culture alive.

Even more unfortunate is that the Kurdistan Regional Government reportedly intends to settle several thousand Kurdish-language teachers from Kirkuk in Erbil by granting them land. Clearly, this would result in the displacement of several thousand Kurdish families from Kirkuk.

Although Article 140 of the Constitution is still mentioned from time to time, it too became a victim of the lack of Kurdish unity.

Instead of implementing Article 140, nine new Arab neighborhoods have been established inside Kirkuk since October 16. The pace of Arabization has now surpassed even what took place during Saddam Hussein’s era.

Sir, even according to the Constitution itself, demographic change is not permitted. Therefore, if those involved in the housing and land sector argue that Iraq belongs to everyone and that people have the right to come and buy property from us, then we should rely on the Constitution itself, specifically Article 23, paragraph (B), which clearly states that changing places of residence must not be intended to alter the demographic composition.

What is happening today, both in Kirkuk and in the Kurdistan Region, has one underlying purpose: changing the demographic makeup of Kurdistan.

The tragedy is that, in this case, it is the Kurds themselves who are encouraging the process.

Personally, I believe in the brotherhood of nations and peoples, but selling a homeland is never an act of brotherhood.

These so-called investment businessmen, whether they realize it or not, should understand that what they are doing falls into the category of selling the homeland.

It is clear that they operate under the protection and influence of Kurdish local authorities, and every authority sells the lands of its cities under the name of investment and development, allowing them to be taken over by profiteers.

Their goal is to make money as quickly as possible. Otherwise, at the very least, they would have come forward with projects to build strategic economic infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region.

My dear friend, if this continues for several more years, southern Kurdistan will become like the outskirts of Mosul, Diyala, and other such areas.

At that point, future generations may become so few in number that they will not even be able to use the word “Kurdistan,” because Kurds will have sold their own land willingly and by their own consent, and others will have purchased it.

In other words, as Sheikh Ghaith Al-Tamimi said in a published video:

“Saddam carried out Arabization by force, so he was not very successful. But now, since there is no longer someone like him in the picture, Kurdish leaders themselves are carrying out the Arabization. At the same time, go to the cities of the Kurdistan Region, restaurants, markets, cafés, and other places, all of them have become Arab.”

Another Arab brother of ours published a comment using very harsh and aggressive language, saying:

“In another two or three decades, the north of our beloved country will become ours…”

Without a doubt, their continued arrival, their ownership of homes, land, businesses, and livelihoods, along with their higher birth rates, will eventually make them an absolute majority.

At that point, they will begin creating problems and finding excuses to act against the Kurds.

There is no doubt that this would be unacceptable to the Kurds, and they would defend themselves. This would eventually lead to war.

Once that happens, the countries that have occupied Kurdistan and the so-called Islamic states, and especially the British government, will begin condemning the Kurds. They will give Arabs full rights and recognize the land as belonging to them. They will then start talking about human rights and United Nations laws.

At that point, the Kurds will be faced with three choices, and all three would lead to destruction:

The first choice: The Kurds surrender, submit, and wait for the goodwill of the newcomers so that they are not oppressed too much.

The second choice: The Kurds leave their homeland and migrate to other countries, living as displaced people and refugees, wandering from place to place like the Roma.

The third choice: Like the Kurds east of the Tigris River 150 years ago, they accept assimilation in order to protect their lives and their families, and they abandon their own language and culture by melting into Arab society.

Mr. Massoud, anyone who does not see this reality should question the correctness of their own way of thinking.

We have our own local authority, and during these 35 years, many actions have been taken that were against our highest national interests.

This includes everything from the decline in the dignity and status of the Kurdish language to the fact that everyone is allowed to make statements on their own, without any limits and without clear red lines against actions carried out in the name of political party interests.

It also includes the constant disputes and conflicts between parties, each moving in different directions, toward Baghdad, foreign countries, and elsewhere, along with the absence of a national agreement that cannot be abandoned under any excuse and that no one should be allowed to violate.

At the same time, we have failed to establish a clear definition of high treason (al-khiyana al-uzma), so that acts of betrayal and selling out the homeland would not be presented falsely as struggle and political activism.

Our ancestors used to say:

“A chicken does not throw dirt on itself; no one else needs to do it.”

What is happening today is something we ourselves are causing.

Therefore, by our own actions, we are giving legitimacy to the occupation of Kurdish land.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on July 24, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

The post Massoud Barzani, Stop Selling Kurdistan to Arabs appeared first on iKurd News.

The Arabization of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region?! – Part II

Salih Zhajlayi | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

In the first part of this article, I wrote some introductory remarks and asked readers to read the author’s entire article. In this part, I want to discuss some details.

Mr. Niyaz Saeed Ali, out of a sense of responsibility and concern for his homeland, wrote a long and comprehensive article on June 14, 2016 in issue 69999 of Kurdistani Nwe and on most other websites, titled “(Regarding a Request by the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce to the Governor of Sulaimani).” They requested permission to allow Arab citizens to purchase apartments and properties and have them officially registered in their names.

His article was published under the title: “A Suspicious Proposal by the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce to the Honorable Governor of Sulaimani.” The Governor, without careful consideration or consulting experts, specialists, or senior government officials, quickly approved the Chamber of Commerce’s suspicious proposal.

Anyone with even a basic understanding can clearly see that the Chamber of Commerce’s request to the Governor, and the Governor’s approval of it, raise serious doubts and suggest that there were hidden motives behind it.

Even more surprising is that once the Governor received the Chamber’s request, he immediately met with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and began drafting the decision on June 3, 2016, even though that day was a Friday, an official holiday.

However, because the Chamber of Commerce’s suspicious proposal had hidden intentions behind it, there is no doubt that the Governor was already fully aware of the proposal’s details and that it served the interests of certain parties. That is why they drafted the decision on a Friday, so that no one would become aware of its issuance and expose their plan.

For that reason, they acted quickly and officially announced the decision through document No. 6448 on Monday, June 6, 2016.

They justified this dangerous decision by claiming that it would develop the tourism sector and strengthen the economy of the Kurdistan Region.

Now consider this: whenever officials want to issue a decision that serves their own interests, they act quickly and then provide weak justifications for it. According to them, this decision was supposedly made for the benefit of the people of the Kurdistan Region, and everyone would benefit from it.

But the question is this:

Will the tourism sector really become stronger by allowing Arab citizens to buy apartments and property? Or would it be strengthened by investing in tourist sites and improving roads and infrastructure?

Will the economy of the Kurdistan Region and its economic foundation become stronger by allocating land through long-term leases to investors so they can establish commercial and industrial companies, create jobs, and reduce unemployment? Or should a decision be made to Arabize the Kurdistan Region simply for the benefit of a group of greedy, homeland-selling investors?

The approval of the Chamber of Commerce’s suspicious proposal serves only one purpose: to provide land almost free of charge to greedy investors so they can make enormous profits—and nothing more.

When Arab citizens come in large numbers and buy apartments, property prices will rise beyond the reach of local citizens. Therefore, those who truly benefit are the greedy investors and the Arab buyers. As a result, the Kurds themselves will have helped carry out the plan to Arabize the Kurdistan Region.

Even more surprising is that for such an important and strategic issue, extensive research and careful investigation should have been conducted.

The proposal should have been reviewed by several research centers, all of its positive and negative consequences should have been studied, all senior government officials should have been informed, and their approval should have been obtained before allowing Arab citizens to buy and register property in their names.

Even more astonishing is that the Provincial Council was not informed of this important issue. Everything took place only between the Governor at that time and the members of the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce.

Can anyone really believe that the members of the Chamber of Commerce were so devoted to the homeland that they lost sleep worrying about the future of the Kurdistan Region?

These are simply a group of suspicious businessmen, nothing more.

Therefore, the doubts become even greater. There were clearly hidden motives behind the scenes, and such a dangerous decision, serving the interests of Arab citizens and working against the Kurdistan Region, would never have been issued so quickly without hidden reasons.

The Governor of Sulaimani’s approval of the Chamber of Commerce’s suspicious proposal to allow Arab citizens to purchase apartments and houses has already shown its negative effects. It has become a serious threat to the demographic balance of the Kurdistan Region.

Changing the demographic balance means increasing the number of Arab citizens while reducing the proportion of Kurdish citizens compared to Arab citizens. In the end, this becomes a major threat to the future of the Kurdistan Region.

It is time for senior government officials, those who truly care about the homeland, to form an investigative committee and thoroughly investigate everyone involved in this dangerous decision, to determine how such a serious decision was secretly and hastily issued without informing any other government institutions.

If other government bodies were also aware of it, they too should be investigated, because this is an offense that should not be forgiven.

In my opinion, the investigation should begin as follows:

First: When the Governor issued the decision allowing apartments, properties, and houses to be sold to Arab citizens, were the Prime Minister and the senior party leadership informed?

If they were not informed, then why was such a decision made independently?

If, however, they had been informed and the Governor acted under their direction, then criticism and demands for accountability should be directed toward those higher authorities.

But if the Governor acted independently, without consulting his superiors, based solely on the Chamber of Commerce’s suspicious proposal, then the Governor bears primary responsibility and should face a thorough investigation.

Second: A detailed investigation should be conducted into every member of the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce, their positions, personal backgrounds, financial status, business activities, and the sectors in which they operate.

Do any of them work in apartment construction? Or do they have close ties with those involved in building apartments and selling real estate?

Such an investigation would uncover many important hidden facts and provide answers to these questions.

Third: The following question must be answered:

Was the Chamber of Commerce’s proposal to the Governor truly intended to promote economic development as a patriotic duty and out of concern for the people of Kurdistan?

Or was its real purpose to allow a small group of people to make huge profits, become wealthy at the public’s expense, obtain government land almost free of charge, build apartments on it, sell them for enormous sums, and receive a share of those profits behind the scenes?

Why is it that all senior government officials, the Governor, and the Chamber of Commerce members believed that the only way to develop tourism and the economy of the Kurdistan Region was to build large numbers of apartments and then make it easier to sell them to Arab citizens?

Throughout all these years, why did they not encourage anyone to establish factories, investment projects, or major companies that would produce goods, strengthen the region’s economy, and provide jobs for unemployed people?

Show me just one project built by an investor that has created real production and provided employment opportunities for unemployed citizens.

Therefore, expanding apartment construction projects and giving government land free of charge to a group of greedy, homeland-selling investors serve only one purpose: enriching a select group of people who share these benefits with the highest government officials and party leaders.

In another article, I discussed the importance of consultation and advisors, and how essential they are in every area of life today.

Seeking advice from knowledgeable and experienced advisors is the key to the success of every leader, regardless of the field.

Unfortunately, our leaders attach no importance to consultation.

It is unclear whether they simply do not understand its value or whether they believe they have no need for advisors.

For Kurdish leaders, personal loyalty is more important than professional advice. They prefer people who stay close to them, accept everything they say without question, whether right or wrong, and simply repeat their statements to the public.

They do not want knowledgeable and sincere advisors around them who would point out their mistakes and warn them of the dangers they face.

One of the main reasons for the current difficult situation in the Kurdistan Region, and the many threats it faces, is that consultation and professional advice have been ignored.

Now let us return to our main subject: the Arabization of the Kurdistan Region.

If senior government officials and party leaders truly believed in consultation and professional advisors, they should have assigned people to read newspapers, websites, and Facebook pages every day to understand what the public was writing, what people expected from the government, what proposals they had, and what criticisms they were making.

Those advisors would then present all of this information to the officials, who, according to their responsibilities, would address the problems, correct mistakes and shortcomings, and respond to the concerns of the public.

If consultation and advisors had truly existed or been valued, how could such a flawed and dangerous decision have been issued without senior government officials even being aware of it, allowing it to move directly into implementation?

If government officials truly cared about this homeland, especially the city of Sulaimani, how could no government official have read Mr. Niyaz Saeed Ali’s important analytical article regarding the Governor’s decision to allow Arab citizens to purchase apartments and property?

In truth, I myself only recently learned about this decision by the Governor and the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce, and I was previously unaware of Mr. Niyaz Saeed Ali’s article.

However, I have no doubt that there were people who knew about what was happening behind the scenes.

I hope that from now on, all of us will remain more alert and aware of the dangers facing the Kurdistan Region, that we will not remain silent, and that we will make these matters public so the public can be informed about these threats.

Salih Zhajlayi, one of the political figures in Sulaimani city, Iraqi Kurdistan, and formerly the Deputy Head of the General Assembly of the Gorran (Change) Movement, is currently working independently in Sulaimani.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on July 23, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

The post Who’s Really Arabizing Kurdistan? It’s Not Baghdad – Part II appeared first on iKurd News.

The Arabization of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region?! – Part I

Salih Zhajlayi | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

There is an old saying that goes: “If an ignorant person throws a stone into a pond, a thousand wise people cannot take it out.” In other words, when an irresponsible and uninformed official makes a bad decision, the consequences can become so harmful and disastrous that even a thousand knowledgeable people cannot fix them.

For some time now, discussions have been spreading on Facebook pages and websites about the increasing number of Arab citizens in the Kurdistan Region and the danger of demographic changes in the region.

We Kurds have a dark history regarding the occupation of our land in all parts of Kurdistan. For example, the process of Arabization in the Kurdistan Region was continuously carried out by successive Iraqi governments.

Kurdish citizens were expelled from their own homeland, and Arabs were settled in their place. Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Makhmour, Sinjar, and many other areas of Kurdistan are witnesses to this. This process is known as Arabization.

Today, however, another way has emerged for increasing the number of Arab citizens in the cities of Kurdistan, such as Sulaimani, Erbil, and Duhok. This is what is now being called the Arabization of the Kurdistan Region. In reality, both methods carry the same source of danger.

We have a Kurdish saying that is often used: “All roads lead to Sardasht.” This means it does not matter which road you take; what matters is that you eventually arrive in Sardasht. Likewise, it does not matter how, through what route, or by what method the number of Arabs on Kurdish land increases; what matters is that their numbers increase.

Arabization means removing Kurdish citizens from their ancestral lands and replacing them with Arab citizens. The Arabization of the Kurdistan Region, on the other hand, does not involve expelling Kurds from their cities.

Rather, it involves an increase in the Arab population through different means, as Arabs come, settle, and eventually alter the demographic balance of the Kurdish population. This creates a serious threat to the future of the Kurdistan Region.

If you calculate twenty years into the future, some seats in parliament and provincial councils could belong to Arabs because birth rates among Arabs are very high. Therefore, the Arabization of the Kurdistan Region through this gradual and indirect method may be even more dangerous than traditional Arabization.

The process of Arabization, in which a family is expelled from its own homeland, creates public outcry and is clearly visible. However, the Arabization of the Kurdistan Region—where Arabs can freely come to Kurdish cities, buy houses and apartments, open shops, and conduct business—is more dangerous than Arabization because it is legally permitted.

Note: When I speak about Arabs here, I am not speaking from a chauvinistic or nationalist perspective. I view Arab citizens as human beings and do not consider them my enemies. Furthermore, according to the law, an Arab from Basra and I in Sulaimani are both Iraqi citizens, and each of us has the right to live wherever we wish in Iraq.

The major issue, however, is this: if 40 percent of Kurdish citizens were to move and settle in southern Iraq, they would not become a threat to the Arab character of that land, nor could we ever become owners of those regions.

Besides being recognized as Arab lands, they possess demographic and geographic depth, and Arabs govern them. On the other hand, if the number of Arabs in the Kurdistan Region becomes very large, the demographic structure of the region will change. We have limited geographic depth, and our neighbors are not our friends; they view Kurds in the same way that many Arabs in Iraq do.

If one day the Arab population in the Kurdistan Region reaches 50 percent, then there will effectively be nothing left that can be called the Kurdistan Region. In my view, if the situation continues in this direction while we Kurds remain under the rule of these leaders, such an outcome is not impossible.

Look at how, in pursuit of wealth and money, Erbil has become a center for laundering the stolen wealth of Iraqi officials. The indifference of Kurdish leaders toward what is happening in the Kurdistan Region is creating a frightening and dark future for the region.

Many people constantly worry about the future of the Kurdistan Region. They speak out, write articles, and warn officials about future dangers. However, these officials consider themselves highly intelligent, wise, and knowledgeable—when in reality they are none of these things.

They are never willing to listen to others, accept advice, or think about the region’s future. What concerns them is enriching themselves and looting the wealth of citizens. The top officials of this region are even prepared to sell the land itself in exchange for money.

Instead of making knowledgeable, sincere, and concerned people their advisors and seeking their opinions, the leaders of the government and dominant parties choose flatterers and obedient followers as advisors so that they can justify, polish, and disguise their inappropriate statements and decisions.

For this reason, I would like to address the rumors and discussions currently circulating about the Arabization and Arab settlement of the Kurdistan Region and the frightening dangers these developments pose to the future of the region in both the short and long term. I also want to discuss the reasons behind these dangers.

One reason for the increasing number of Arab citizens is that the authorities opened the door for Arab citizens to buy apartments and houses in the Kurdistan Region and settle there voluntarily, without senior government officials considering the risks this might pose to the future of the Kurdistan Region.

We claim to be struggling over Kirkuk, Khanaqin, and Sinjar, yet Sulaimani, Erbil, and Duhok themselves are being occupied.

To understand the carelessness and lack of awareness among the officials of this region, I would like to draw your attention to a very important analytical article written by Mr. Niyaz Saeed Ali more than fifteen years ago.

The article discussed a proposal submitted by the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce to the governor of Sulaimani, requesting that Arab citizens be allowed to purchase apartments and houses in the region, something that had previously been prohibited.

Without much thought or consultation, the governor issued what can only be described as a historic decision on June 6, 2016, a decision that paved the way for the Arabization of Sulaimani Province and the Kurdistan Region.

Fifteen years later, we can now see the serious dangers that this decision has created for the Kurdistan Region. These dangers are now being openly discussed and felt by society.

If the leaders of the government, Kurdish parties, and political movements truly cared about this nation, how could they have accepted such a decision? Why were those responsible not held accountable? If they say, “We were not aware of the decision,” then that would be the beginning of our disaster and ruin.

Such an excuse would be worse than the mistake itself. How can someone claim to be a leader while the nation is being auctioned away around them, and then say they knew nothing about it?

Mr. Niyaz Saeed Ali published an article on the Awena website titled “A Fifteen-Year-Old Request from the Sulaimani Chamber of Commerce to the Governor of Sulaimani.” Because discussions about the growing Arab population have increased recently, he republished the same article from fifteen years ago on the Awena website.

Personally, I do not believe government officials were unaware of the governor’s decision. Rather, I believe they themselves planned it for their own benefit.

Mr. Niyaz Saeed Ali has now republished the entire article from fifteen years ago on the Awena website. One cannot help but think that there is no one in this country who truly cares about the nation. If that is not the case, then why do government officials remain silent in the face of such a major wrongdoing?

The article was published on July 18, 2026, on the Awena website. As I write this, at 5:00 PM on July 19, 2026, due to the importance and sensitivity of the issue, 2,620 people have read it. Yet even now, not a single government official appears to be paying attention.

In the second part of this article, I will publish more details. I hope readers will visit the Awena website to learn all the details contained in the article.

When government officials and citizens alike remain unaware of such an unprecedented wrongdoing, it becomes difficult to see any hope for our future.

Salih Zhajlayi, one of the political figures in Sulaimani city, Iraqi Kurdistan, and formerly the Deputy Head of the General Assembly of the Gorran (Change) Movement, is currently working independently in Sulaimani.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on July 20, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

One Million Arabs Inside Iraqi Kurdistan, A Strategic Gamble With National Consequences

The post Who’s Really Arabizing Kurdistan? It’s Not Baghdad – Part I appeared first on iKurd News.

Kurdistan region property buying and selling to turn electronic

ERBIL,— The Ministry of Justice in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region is moving to shift real estate sales online, mirroring a system already rolled out in Baghdad, Channel8 TV reported.

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Justice has asked the Union of Chambers of Commerce to convert property buying and selling into an electronic process, ending the current paper-based system.

Baghdad introduced its own digital property platform, known as “Aqari,” earlier this month.

The federal government’s move prompted lawmakers in the Iraqi Parliament to question officials about data security and the legal framework behind it.

Authorities said the Baghdad system runs under Electronic Signature Law No. 78 of 2012 and is overseen by security agencies and the Central Bank of Iraq.

Gailan Haji Saeed, head of the Erbil Chamber of Commerce, said his office received a formal letter from the Justice Ministry outlining the plan.

He said the new system will cover all residential properties and land parcels, with the broader aim of digitizing the region’s real estate sector.

Officials said a key purpose of the platform is to curb money laundering tied to property deals. Because every real estate office operates under a license issued by the chambers of commerce, the chambers will be positioned to track and review transactions closely.

The system is also meant to help identify offices running without proper licenses or ignoring administrative rules.

Under the plan, a new electronic platform will store all information tied to property sales. That data will then be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice through the chambers of commerce, requiring coordination among land registration departments, tax authorities, security agencies and other relevant bodies.

Saeed said the rollout will take time and that training sessions for real estate office owners will be arranged before the platform goes live.

In Halabja province, similar preparations are underway.

Tahir Sheikh Izzaddin, head of the Halabja Chamber of Commerce, said the area has roughly 17 to 18 real estate offices currently operating, while a number of others have let their licenses lapse.

Once formal instructions are received, he said, his office will work with security agencies and other concerned parties to fold Halabja’s real estate offices into the new digital system.

The initiative reflects a broader push across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to modernize property transactions, tighten oversight of the real estate market and reduce reliance on paper records.

(With files from channel8.com)

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

The post Iraqi Kurdistan real estate transactions to go fully electronic appeared first on iKurd News.

Salih Zhajlayi | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

On October 30, 2025, I published an article titled “The Good News” on the Awene website, following the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister’s decision to distribute land among government employees and the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces. I have no doubt that no government official has read that article.

These days, I came across a Facebook post titled “Good News for Political Prisoners” and for several other groups and segments of society, saying that the Prime Minister has decided to distribute land to them.

In reality, in that post I discussed at great length the harms and negative consequences of land distribution, which I cannot repeat here again. However, here I want to talk about the importance of land, earth, or soil for every nation and every person.

Land is the identity of every nation on this planet.

Any nation that does not have its own land cannot have its own identity either. Wherever such a nation lives, it becomes a guest, and whenever they tell it to leave, it must say goodbye and depart.

Although we are a nation of 50 million people divided among four countries, and until now we have not had our own independent state, we have continued to live on the land of our fathers and ancestors since ancient times. We have never been guests on our own land, and we are not guests today. Until now, we have not lost our identity as a nation, and we continue our lives on our own land.

Although the enemies of the Kurds have made many attempts to destroy us, until now they have not succeeded. Our enemies know very well that as long as we own our own land, they cannot wipe us out. Therefore, they continuously try to remove Kurds from the land of their fathers and ancestors and settle themselves in their place.

They know very well that only through this method can they weaken the Kurdish people and take away our Kurdish identity.

We Kurds, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of several states on our land, and since 1923, when Kurds were excluded from the establishment of their own state, have remained in a continuous struggle until today. We have carried out many revolutions and uprisings for the sake of freedom. However, until now, the Kurds have not achieved their goals.

But we Kurds have remained and have not disappeared because we live on our own land. We are not guests; we are the owners of our homeland.

Therefore, if owning land is so important and guarantees the survival of a nation, everyone must protect every inch of that land like the pupil of their eye and defend it, because that land guarantees the survival and identity of all of us.

Here, I especially want to talk about the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where in 1961 the Kurds launched a revolution and shed rivers of blood to protect their land and recover the lands that enemies had occupied through the process of Arabization, meaning removing Kurds from their homeland and settling Arab citizens in their place.

Fifty-one percent of the Kurdistan Region’s land was occupied, including most of Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Sinjar, Makhmour, and many other areas.

After the fall of the Ba’ath regime with the help of the allies, all those occupied lands returned to us. However, because of the absence of effective Kurdish leadership and because of disagreements among Kurdish leaders, in a referendum, through Massoud Barzani’s unilateral decision, we lost all of them again.

The Kirkuk that was called the “Jerusalem of Kurdistan” by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was called the “heart of Kurdistan” by the Kurdistan Democratic Party. A sea of blood was spilled over it. Yet today, with the cooperation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, its governor is a Turkmen.

Therefore, today our situation is not simply that we must return to zero. If things continue this way, Kurds themselves will leave the Kurdistan Region by choice or by necessity because of:

1- The regional government

Meaning a government of two parties and two families that, during 32 years of rule, has continuously looted the revenues of this region for themselves.

They sell oil and gas through smuggling. They steal customs and domestic revenues. Agricultural production is almost at zero, and vegetables are imported from abroad. The economic infrastructure of the region does not exist.

They have stolen more than 20 months of employees’ salaries and have not paid them.

Out of necessity, they turned to Baghdad, and Baghdad also humiliates the Kurds, while the Kurdistan Region has remained only in name.

They have nothing left to take from citizens or use against them to gain their votes. For the past two years, the Prime Minister has started auctioning the land of Kurdistan under the name of distributing land among different groups of people, and he considers this a great achievement for himself.

In my opinion, land distribution is nothing less than a crime and national betrayal.

We exist and have survived because of this land on which we live. When the land is gone, we will have to become refugees abroad.

I am not very familiar with the Yellow Zone, but I will talk about the Green Zone, and whatever bad things exist in the Green Zone, surely half of them exist in the Yellow Zone as well.

Fine, if land is given to the people of Halabja, Sulaimani, Penjwen, Ranya, Chwarqurna, Piramagrun, Chamchamal, Takia, and other places to build houses, why are the mountains, valleys, and hills not distributed?

Obviously, the cheap lands being distributed are those located near cities and towns, and all of them are agricultural land.

If things continue this way, within the next 30 years, from Halabja to Dukan — where the best agricultural lands are located between these cities and towns — not even one meter will remain, and all of it will become houses.

Then do not ask me: where will agriculture be done?

The decision to distribute land is not good news. Rather, it is the news of the destruction of Kurdistan by the hands of Kurds themselves.

Congratulations to you, leaders who are enemies of the land and homeland.

The real good news should have been strengthening the economic infrastructure of the region, ending corruption, and establishing many factories and investment projects so that people could work there and so that there would be production.

The good news should have been that today we would not be forced to stand at the doors of Baghdad officials and bow before them.

You have stolen all the wealth of this homeland. You have stolen more than 20 months of employees’ salaries. For years, you have not increased employees’ salary levels. The money that was supposed to be provided as housing allowances has disappeared. The money collected from citizens in place of their food ration payments, which was supposed to be sent back to Baghdad, has also been stolen, and it has become a debt on the region.

Despite having all these large revenues available, you are not willing to send the 120 billion dinars per month that you agreed upon to Baghdad so that they can send our salaries on time.

Instead of all of this, you give people the “good news” that you will distribute land to them.

Fine, where will you find this land?

This land is not the property of your fathers and ancestors for you to scatter and distribute as you wish.

If I take Sulaimani as an example, from the Arabat checkpoint to the Kelewan checkpoint, almost all of it has already been divided into plots, and for the next 20 years no services can be provided there.

If today you give a piece of land in those areas to someone, its value does not even equal one stack of dollars.

Do you intend to make that equal to the value of 20 months of an employee’s salary and use it to present yourselves as heroes?

Is this governance? Is this serving citizens?

If you truly cared about employees, the families of martyrs, the Peshmerga forces, and political prisoners, then instead of giving millions of dunams of land to some investors, and instead of taking apartments that cost 5 stacks of dollars and selling them to people for 15 stacks, you would have made agreements with those investors to sell them to citizens at reasonable prices through monthly installments.

At that time, most people would have become owners of their own apartments, and agricultural land would not have been destroyed in the way it is happening today.

The decision to distribute land is a hostile decision against the Kurdistan Region. It is a crime that has no forgiveness. This is like claiming bravery after the danger has already passed.

If you are honest, return the stolen salaries to the people. Stop looting the revenues of this Kurdistan. Establish a government, and no longer continue taking the wealth of this homeland as two parties and two families.

Those who consider land distribution important and see it as good news are people who are unaware, ignorant, enslaved, and submissive.

2- The Silent Process of Arabization

This is the title of an article written by the respected Dr. Burhan Yassin, who lives in Sweden and is an intellectual and a person concerned about the Kurdish cause.

Therefore, I am writing the title of his article here because it is directly related to the settlement of Arab citizens in the Kurdistan Region.

His article is very long and important. Here, I will only mention a few examples from it.

The author says:

“Today, one million and thirty-two thousand Arab citizens live in the Kurdistan Region, which represents 26 percent of the population of the region.

Until now, 32 thousand Arab children have been born in the Kurdistan Region, and identification documents have been issued for them under the Kurdistan Region.

Until now, 179 schools have been opened in the Kurdistan Region where education is conducted in Arabic.”

This means that if things continue this way, after several more years, part of the seats in the Kurdistan Region’s parliament and provincial councils will go to Arabs. With the passage of time, Kurds in the Kurdistan Region itself may become a minority because the birth rate among Arabs is several times higher than among Kurds.

The fundamental question is: What is the reason for the increasing percentage of Arabs in the Kurdistan Region, and who is responsible for it?

The reason goes back to government officials who gave land for free to investors so that they could build apartments and became partners with them.

This process continues, and if in the past it happened secretly and quietly, today it is happening openly.

There is a Kurdish proverb that says: “Modesty is like a drop of water; once it dries up, everything disappears.”

Morals, ethics, and all sacred values come to an end.

After the number of apartments increased day by day and the number of buyers decreased, they opened the door for Arab citizens to buy apartments, although at the beginning it was prohibited to sell houses and apartments to Arab citizens.

Because of this, the process of Arabizing the Kurdistan Region has silently begun. The reason behind it is the officials of the region themselves.

If this continues, after several more years, in markets, tourist places, and cafés, you will only hear Arabic conversations, Arabic songs, and Arabic music.

This does not mean that I hate Arabs or that I do not want Arabs to live in Kurdistan. However, the danger is that we do not have our own state, and if Arabs are allowed to settle freely on the land of the region, our existence will eventually come to an end.

This cannot be considered normal, and it creates a danger for the structure of the region.

Therefore, the government that gives people the “good news” of distributing land is actually creating a call for the death of the Kurdistan Region.

A person from Iran comes to the Kurdistan Region to visit Massoud Barzani. From an elevated place, he points toward the city of Erbil and says to his guest:

“Look how many tall and beautiful buildings have been built in this city.”

The guest replies:

“Progress is not measured by the number of high-rise buildings. It is measured by the strength of the economic infrastructure.”

The only thing the region’s officials can be proud of and boast about is the large number of buildings. Eventually, these buildings will become the cause of the Kurdistan Region’s destruction.

I will end this article with this short story:

Long ago, in the country of Iran, there was a king named Nawshirwan, and he had a trusted right-hand minister named Bakhtak.

One day, the king said to Bakhtak:

“I want to visit some places in my country to see what is happening there.”

When they began their journey, they arrived at a village and saw that the entire village had turned into ruins, and there was no one living there.

After searching for a long time, they found an old man leaning against a wall.

They approached him and asked:

“Why has this entire village turned into ruins, and why is there no one left here?”

The old man raised his head and said to them:

“As long as Nawshirwan is the ruler and Bakhtak is the deputy, a hundred villages will become ruins for the price of one coin.”

And I say:

“As long as Masrour Barzani is the Prime Minister and Qubad Talabani is the deputy, expect the mountains of Qandil, Asos, Mamand, and all the peaks of Kurdistan to be Arabized, because they are very suitable for tourism.

And we Kurds, under the shadow of these leaders who are auctioning our homeland, will be forced to leave because there will be no place left for us to live.”

Salih Zhajlayi, one of the political figures in Sulaimani city, Iraqi Kurdistan, and formerly the Deputy Head of the General Assembly of the Gorran (Change) Movement, is currently working independently in Sulaimani.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on July 10, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

Land distribution in Erbil, May-July 2026

• Land will be allocated to political prisoners and the families of martyrs: Peshawa Hawramani July 6, 2026 
  پێشەوا هەورامانی: زەوی دەدرێتە زیندانییانی سیاسی و کەسوکاری شەهیدان
  
• 100,000 employees have received land plots: Ministry of Municipalities July 6, 2026
  وەزارەتی شارەوانی: 100 هەزار فەرمانبەر زەوییان وەرگرتووە
• 2,600 Land Plots to Be Distributed to Government Employees in Khabat Tomorrow July 7, 2026
  سبەی 2600 پارچەزەوی لە سنووری شارەوانیی خەبات بەسەر فەرمانبەران دابەش دەکرێت
• Land will be distributed among the employees of Choman, soon July 8, 2026
  بەمزووانە زەوی بەسەر فەرمانبەرانی چۆمان دابەش دەکرێت
• Khabat District Employees Allocated Land Names Announced July 8, 2026 – ناوی ئەو فەرمانبەرانەی قەزای خەبات بڵاوکرایەوە کە زەوییان بۆ دەرچووە
• Employee Land in Daratou and Kesnazan to Be Cadastrally Registered July 4, 2026
  زەویی فەرمانبەرانی سنووری شارەوانیی دارەتوو و کەسنەزان تاپۆ دەكرێت
• The land distribution process begins in Khabat District June 30, 2026
  پرۆسەی دابەشکردنی زەوی لە قەزای خەبات دەستپێدەکات
• Erbil Announces Employee Land Verification Process Start June 27, 2026
  هەولێر.. دەستپێکردنی پرۆسەی وردبینی بۆ زەویی فەرمانبەران راگەیەنرا
• Erbil to Begin New Land Distribution Phase Soon June 22, 2026
  لە هەولێر بەم نزیکانە قۆناخێکی دیکەی زەوی دابەش دەکرێت
• Tomorrow, 5,000+ Land Plots to Be Distributed in Duhok June 17, 2026
  سبه‌ی له‌ سنووری پارێزگای دهۆك زیاتر له‌ پێنج هه‌زار پارچه‌ زه‌وی دابه‌ش ده‌كرێت
• Employee Names for Khalifan Land Grants Announced June 15, 2026
  ناوی ئەو فەرمانبەرانەی لە خەلیفان زەوییان بۆ دەرچوو راگەیەندرا
• Khalifan: Land is being allocated to government employees June 14, 2026
  خەلیفان؛ زەوی بەسەر فەرمانبەران دابەش دەکرێت
• Beneslawa Land Registration Begins June 6, 2026
  مامەڵەی تاپۆ لە سنووری بنەسڵاوە دەستپێدەکات
• Halabja’s employees will receive land Next week June 3, 2026
  هەفتەی داهاتوو فەرمانبەرانی هەڵەبجە زەوی وەردەگرن
• The registration of employees’ land begins June 3, 2026
  تاپۆکردنی زەویی فەرمانبەران دەستپێدەکات
• Erbil: Land will be distributed to another 3,500 employees tomorrow May 20, 2026
  هەولێر؛ سبەی زەوی بەسەر 3500 فەرمانبەری دیکەدا دابەش دەکرێت
• Erbil Municipality: Another phase of land distribution will begin this week May 18, 2026
  شارەوانی هەولێر: ئەم هەفتەیە قۆناخێکی دیکەی دابەشکردنی زەوی دەستپێدەکات

The post Land Distribution in Kurdistan Is an Unforgivable Crime appeared first on iKurd News.

SULAIMANI,— Recent census and investment data show that Iraq’s Kurdistan Region has more than 2 million residential units. Despite this large housing stock, more than 400,000 units are currently empty.

Officials say this is largely due to the rapid growth of real estate projects, most of which are apartment buildings, The Channel8 TV reported.

According to Amanj Jalal, Director of Investment in Sulaimani, about 80% of all residential units in the Kurdistan Region are apartments, while only 20% are houses and villas.

He explained that apartments are widely used because they make more efficient use of land.

One dunam of land can hold around 190 to 200 apartment units, while the same area can only accommodate about 15 to 20 houses. This approach is intended to save land and reduce urban sprawl.

Demand for housing varies across the region. In Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok, apartments are in higher demand.

However, in areas such as Garmian, Raparin, Soran, and Kirkuk, apartment purchases are much lower. Prices also differ significantly.

The average price per square meter ranges from $400 to $800. In some luxury villas, the price can reach up to $1,000 per square meter. Villa prices overall range from about $250,000 to $1 million.

Over the past 19 years, from 2006 to July 2025, a total of 366 residential projects have received investment licenses in the Kurdistan Region, with a combined value of about $33.488 billion. Between 2019 and 2024 alone, nearly 60 new residential projects were approved.

This rapid development has increased the number of housing units on the market, while demand has not grown at the same pace.

The 2024 census shows that the Kurdistan Region has a population of 6,370,688 people and 2,028,937 residential units.

This means there is roughly one housing unit for every three people. With 1,379,163 households, there are about 649,774 extra housing units overall.

Even if around 200,000 households are renting, there would still be approximately 449,774 vacant homes. In addition, more than 100,000 units are still under construction.

On February 19, 2024, the Kurdistan Region Investment Board decided to suspend new investment licenses in the housing sector.

The goal is to better organize the market and shift development toward projects that benefit low-income families and renters.

However, the decision does not apply to municipal building permits on privately owned land. It only affects projects that require approval from the Investment Board.

(With files from channel8.com)

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

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WASHINGTON,— The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to seize a Beverly Hills mansion linked to Mansour Barzani, a Kurdish general and brother of Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, in a case alleging he used $30 million in corrupt proceeds from U.S. military contracts to buy and renovate the property, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported.

The Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture complaint this week, dated April 22, which OCCRP obtained.

The complaint identifies the property as a secluded home on Foothill Road, an affluent, tree-lined residential street in Beverly Hills.

A real estate agent has listed the home as Foothill Manor, a French-style villa featuring a private theater, a swimming pool, and European gardens.

Prosecutors alleged that Barzani accepted bribes from a Virginia-based contractor in exchange for granting that company exclusive rights to supply jet fuel at Erbil International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan from 2016 to 2020.

The airport, controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces, served as a key fuel delivery point for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Syria under Operation Inherent Resolve.

The Justice Department said in a press statement that officers of the contractor agreed to pay Barzani, identified as a senior Peshmerga official, a bribe of $0.25 per liter for exclusive fuel delivery access for U.S. military and coalition forces.

The Defense Logistics Agency, a branch of the Department of Defense, awarded that Virginia-based contractor contracts worth more than $700 million between 2015 and 2023, according to the complaint.

The complaint refers to the company only as “Contractor 1,” but contract numbers cited in the filing identify it as DGCI, a Virginia-based logistics firm.

A 2017 memo from the Kurdish regional government named only three companies approved to deliver fuel to Erbil airport: DGCI, its Kurdish subcontractor Triple Arrow, and a Kurdistan-based firm called Rainfloods.

With that exclusive access secured, DGCI billed the U.S. government as much as $10 per gallon for jet fuel. Defense Department guidelines show the standard price paid between 2016 and 2020 ranged from $2.14 to $3.20 per gallon.

A message from a contractor cited in court documents remarked on the striking markup, saying it was pretty crazy that the company was delivering fuel in Syria and Iraq at more than $10 per gallon, and questioning what competing firms must have been thinking.

OCCRP said it contacted the Kurdistan Regional Government’s permanent representative in Washington and sent requests for comment to representatives of Mansour Barzani and DGCI. None of the three parties responded before publication.

Mansour and Masrour Barzani are sons of Massoud Barzani, who led Peshmerga fighters against Saddam Hussein’s government during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and later became the founding president of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Foothill Road property is not the only U.S. real estate tied to the family.

A separate OCCRP investigation published last year found that Mansour Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and their three other brothers used anonymous shell companies registered in Delaware and the British Virgin Islands to acquire more than $100 million in U.S. properties.

Those purchases also included luxury goods and Arabian horses. Investigators found that tens of millions of dollars behind those transactions came from Kurdish conglomerates with interests in both oil and military contracting.

The Barzani clan, which rules Iraqi Kurdistan, has long faced accusations from critics and observers of corruption, nepotism and of amassing vast wealth from the oil sector for family benefit rather than serving the broader population.

(With files from Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) occrp.org)

Copyright © 2026 iKurd.net. All rights reserved.

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SULAIMANI, Iraqi Kurdistan,— A Kurdish opposition lawmaker has accused officials and private actors of orchestrating an illegal land distribution network in Sulaimani, warning that the city is facing what he described as ‘the largest land exploitation’ in its history, according to Hawlati.

Ali Hama Salih, a member of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament and leader of the National Stance Movement (Rewtî Helwêstî Nîştimanî), disclosed this week that he has compiled 312 official records over three months detailing unauthorized land sales across Sulaimani.

He claims thousands of donums have been sold without titles or public services.

“This is being done in the name of the people, but without their consent,” Salih said.

The disputed areas include several neighborhoods and major streets: Sabi Street, 100-Meter Road, Hawari Shar, Qargha, Raparin, Qula Ra’isi, Kanakawa, Bakrajo, Sutka, Kani Goma, Chwarchra, and Qarajakan. According to Salih, land has been split and sold “meter by meter,” bypassing legal procedures.

Salih said nearly 80,000 land parcels, representing an estimated market value of $1 billion, have been transferred illegally. Around 500 new parcels are reportedly being sold each week, amounting to $5 million to $6 million in transactions.

He claims the parcels are being sold by a group of six individuals, allegedly acting in the name of the Peshmerga and local security forces. He specifically named political and military figures including Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party leaders Bafel Talabani, Qubad Talabani, and Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa in the context of his investigation.

“This is being done without ministry orders, no court permission—just blatant sales of land,” Salih stated. “And it’s being carried out with the involvement of people using political and military names.”

“None of this has been sanctioned through legal channels,” Salih stated.

Salih also mentioned a company, Made in Sarchnar, as being responsible for organizing the parceling and sales. He claims 23 separate offices are active near the Chwarchra Center, coordinating deals from what he called the Pasha Building.

“Farmers are being stripped of their land under fake contracts. They’re given 48 meters per meter in return, and the rest is resold,” he said. “These documents will not hold up in court.”

A man named Musa, described as a liaison figure, is said to be facilitating some of the transactions.

The lawmaker called on the public to reject the land purchases and warned buyers that the deals are not legally binding. “Later, you’ll say you were defrauded. I’m telling you now, it’s illegal,” he said.

He concluded by stressing that he will not abandon the investigation. “This case must be brought to justice. I have all the names. This is not just corruption—it is the destruction of Sulaimani,” he added.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq remains deeply divided both politically and geographically, with power concentrated in the hands of two dominant parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by the Barzani family, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by the Talabani clan. While the KDP exerts control over Erbil and Duhok, the PUK maintains authority in Sulaimani.

Oversight groups, Kurdish lawmakers, and leaked financial records have consistently pointed to large-scale financial irregularities. Billions of dollars in oil revenue are reportedly unaccounted for, raising questions about transparency and resource management across the region.

The Barzani and Talabani families are believed to hold extensive economic interests, including major commercial holdings and control over key oil fields, collectively valued in the billions of dollars. Both parties have long faced recurring allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds.

Analysts say the region’s entrenched political structure and lack of centralized accountability have allowed such practices to persist largely unchecked.

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