Land Distribution in Kurdistan Is an Unforgivable Crime

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.

Caretaker Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani inaugurates 6th International Real Estate and Housing Exhibition in Erbil, September 9, 2025. Photo: K24

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.

Iraqi forces take Kirkuk oil fields from Kurds — Members of Iraqi federal forces gather near oil fields in Kirkuk, October 16, 2017, after controversial Barzani-orchestrated referendum. Photo: Reuters

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.

People protest in Sulaimani city against Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over unpaid salaries and corruption, January 17, 2016. Photo: NRT

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:

Arabs in the Erbil city, Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: SM

“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.

A Kurdish man (left) and an Arab (right) in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2016. Photo: travelwithpedro.com

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.

Buildings and skyscrapers in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2025. Photo: Screengrab/video/YT/via iKurd.net

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:

Masrour Barzani with Qubad Talabani — Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (R) with Qubad Talabani, the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan region and co-leader of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), May 2023. Photo: Barzani’s Press Office/via Ekurd.net

“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.”

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.

Land distribution in Erbil, May-July 2026