Foreign Policy Journal | Taiyo “Siraj” Davis | Dec. 4, 2019
There has been an ongoing occupation in Northern Iraq of Assyrian Christian indigenous lands, largely ignored by the mainstream media, which requires a solution soon.
According to David William Lazar’s American Mesopotamian Organization (AMO), Kurdish tribes close to the ruling Barzani family of the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) have stolen Assyrian Christian lands in Northern Iraq. Director of the Assyrian Democratic Movement Rabee Fareed, Assyrian Aid Society president Ashur Sargon Eskrya, and Assyrian Christian MP Yacoub Yaco state that currently 58 Assyrian villages have been occupied.
The following is an on the ground investigation of the allegations of Kurdish occupation in the Assyrian Christian villages of Kashkawa, Zhouli, and Chamma Rabatka of the Nahla district; the Babelo district; Garbeeesh village in Akre District; and the Barwari district. All districts are part of Duhok, Northern Iraq. Past reports have not named who is responsible for the land theft. This report does for the first time. This includes heads of the KRG government and Western oil companies.
Nahla District – Kashkawa and Zhouli Villages
Assyrian Christian villagers in Nahla possess maps detailing land markings and boundaries in addition to court orders by the Duhok KRG, validating ownership of lands. However, there has been no government enforcement of these decrees.
The Christians in Kashkawa village have already lost three-fourths of their village lands. In Zhouli village, all of their territory is saturated with illegal blue-tarped covered construction by Kurdish villagers.