An aspect of the misfortune to which Kerkuk region is exposed

An aspect of the misfortune to which Kerkuk region is exposed: Satellite Maps of 2002 is compared with maps of 2007 

Date: May 05, 2009

No: Rep.9-E0509

In the early morning of Thursday 15 April 2009, the inhabitants of the oldest Kerkuk neighborhood, Musalla, were awakened by the sound of bulldozers destroying the wall and graves of the Seyyid Kızı part of the large Musalla Turkmen graveyard.[1] The Musalla graveyard is the oldest graveyard in Kerkuk and comprises thousands of graves including those of many celebrated Turkmen. Inhabitants flocked to the area, stopping the demolition before complaining to the police office. Nevertheless, about 15 graves were destroyed.

After investigation, it was found that an official contract was given by the chief of the Investment Commission of Endowments directorate of Kerkuk, a Kurd from Kerkuk, for the building of a commercial complex in that part of the graveyard.[2] The Commission director [3] is a Peshmerga Kurd brought from the province of Sulaymaniya during the distribution of senior posts between members of the Kurdish KDP and PUK political parties directly after occupation. The person who was given contract is a Kurd from Sulaymaniya province, too.

This is part of policy of the Kurdish political parties, who remain alone in administering Kerkuk since the occupation in 2003, to eradicate the Turkmen characteristics of the region in their attempts to Kurdify the province, control the huge oil reserve and annex it to the Kurdish region. The names of streets, bridges, villages and sub-districts were changed to Kurdish. The signboards inside governmental offices and hospitals were changed to Kurdish, even though a large part of the Kerkuk population cannot read it. Sculptures of prominent Kurds, such as, killed-Peshmerga militants, have also been erected on the streets.

In 2003, the first Kurds-dominated Kerkuk city council has dramatically Kurdified the administration, which was mainly distributed between the two Kurdish parties, KDP and PUK. Approximately 10,000 staff was appointed to Kerkuk governmental offices, of whom almost 80% were Kurds brought from Duhok, Sulaymaniya and Erbil. Security forces have been completely replaced by Kurds. They dominate the police system. Thousands of Peshmergas militants from other Kurdish regions are also distributed in Kerkuk province.

Kurdish political parties have also settled tens of thousands of Kurdish families in Kerkuk province. Kerkuk’s population, which was 870,000 at the day of occupation, became more than 1,300,000, [4] Moreover, more than 100,000 Arabs have either left Kerkuk or been expelled by the Kurdish Peshmerga militants. About thirty Arab villages in the south and south west Kerkuk was evacuated. The population of some Kurdish villages has been increased several-fold, for example, Kara Injir and Shuwan.

The incoming families have built on almost every piece of undeveloped land within Kerkuk city. [Table 1] Many large Kurdish neighborhoods and shopping centers have been erected, particularly to the east and north of Kerkuk city. [Map 1 and 2] The Kerkuk city area is increased about 20 km2 [Map 3]. These lands mostly belonged to Turkmen and also to municipality and government. The number of complaint cases which have been presented to the Property Claim Commission (PCC) in Kerkuk is about 40,000, about 80% of which are of Turkmen. The Kurdified administration of Kerkuk has continually hampered the decisions of the PCC. Today, about 20% of the cases are only completed. Many of those who win the decision of the PCC still could not get their lands.

UNAMI office in Kerkuk

The degree to which the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) is involved in Kerkuk issues requires close monitoring of the situation in the province. Furthermore, UNAMI is going to make a historical decision on Kerkuk which is going to influence deeply all the Iraqi communities and the future of Iraq. Despite numerous calls for a UNAMI representation in Kerkuk from Arab and Turkmen groups, it was before about a year such a presence was established and it remains under resourced and challenged in meeting the requirements of the multifaceted Kerkuk crisis.

The UNAMI representative lacks a permanent staff, and staff members are frequently replaced with others and work only two or three days in a week. Rarely can two staff members be found at the same time. There is no bureau assigned for the UNAMI in Kerkuk. A room had been assigned to UNAMI staff during the meetings of the Kerkuk Article 23 Commission in the building of the Kerkuk governorate. At the time Arab and Kurd, but not Turkmen, translators were present – making Turkmen authorities worry about the accuracy of the translation of such historical negotiations.

Recommendations:

ü To the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq

· Complete the institution of UNAMI office in Kerkuk and provide it with sufficient staff.

· Provide the office with experts in human rights, public relations, minority issues, urbanization engineers and international law.

· Provide a Turkmen – English translator

ü The Iraqi government

· Provide the requirements to the Kerkuk Article 23 Commission to enable the commissioners to realize their mission

· Realize the decision, which you made, to evacuate the governmental buildings in Kerkuk

· Replace Peshmerga militants with Iraqi army units throughout Kerkuk province

ü The Kurdish parties

· Abandon the inflexible policies to assist the solution of Kerkuk problem and facilitate the reconciliation processes which certainly quicken building of Democratic Iraq and establishment of regional stability.

ü The international civil society organizations: Human Rights Watch & Amnesty International

· Open offices in Kerkuk to closely observe the human rights situation and huge demographical changes [Map 1, 2 and 3] and publish regular reports

ü To the international community and authorities

· Actively support the decisions of Iraqi government and the Iraqi parliament, particularly, on Kerkuk, and provide or withdraw your support accordingly.

ü The Turkmen and Arab groups in Kerkuk

· Institute a well developed press office staffed with English speaking journalists to enlighten the international community about:

o Developments in Kerkuk issues, particularly, that of the Kerkuk commission

o The huge human rights violations since occupation, the dramatic demographic changes and the Kurdish domination of almost all power centers in Kerkuk

______________________________

References:

1. For centuries, Musalla graveyard is visited every Thursday by thousands of females of Kerkuk. Whilst such phenomenon shows the degree of importance which Kerkuk people give to the dead, at the same time, it is considered one of the very few social activities for females in such a conservative community.

2. Kurdish families had already built tens of houses at the east and north of Musalla graveyard.

3. It is well known that almost all the finances and lands which the directorate of endowments of Kerkuk province possesses have been donated by Turkmen.

4. The numbers of both the Kurds and the Turkmen, who had been exiled from Kerkuk province during the Arabification policies of Ba’ath regime, were 100,000 according to the United States Special Committee for Refugees and 120,000 according to the Human Rights Watch and the Kurdish parties. It should be known that a large number of the expelled Kurdish families were not born in Kerkuk, the came to Kerkuk from other Kurdish province.

Table No. 1. Estimated Turkmen, municipality and government lands which were appropriated by Kurdish militias and families after occupation

Numbers
Address

4.784.200 m2

Huge lands has been appropriated and built by Kurdish Peshmerga and Kurdish families:

ü 4.085.000 m2 Second Army Corps Complexes [Map No. 4 and 5]

ü 237.500 m2 Khalid Army center (Muasker Khalid)

ü 305.700 m2 East and North of Musalla Graveyard [Map No. 6 and 7]

ü 156.000 m2 Arasa Region

1,915 Houses
Houses of Army Corps opposite al-Hurriyya Airport:

ü 30 Houses (300m2 each house)

ü 30 Houses (300m2 each house)

ü 94 Houses (450m2 each house)

Officers Houses / opposite Army Corps:

ü 40 Houses (400m2 each house)

ü 23 Houses (400m2 each house)

Officers Houses / Hay al-Wasiti:

ü 122 Houses (400m2 each house)

Non commissioned Officer Houses / opposite Army Corps:

ü 124 Houses (170m2 each house)

ü 80 Houses (150m2 each house)

Army Flats / opposite Army Corps:

ü 48 Houses (170m2 each house)

The Houses of Military Bases / opposite al-Hurriyya Airport:

ü 39 Houses (600m2 each house)

ü 15 Houses (600m2 each house)

Houses of Store of foodstuffs

ü 120 houses

Houses built on 13800 M2 Lands facing Sahat al-Tayaran

ü 700 houses

Houses built near al-Shamal Garage in front of Suq al-Hasir

ü 200 houses

Houses built at the side of Gas al-Shamal and given to Kurdish families

ü 250 houses

21 buildings
Baath Party team Centers

ü al-Arapha (Nearby the Arapha market center) – 1 floor

ü Domiz Quarter / Behind the Dispensary by Kurdish Democratic Shabiba Union – 2 floors

ü Iskan Quarter by a Kurdish organization – 2 floors.

ü 7 Nisan by Kurdish families expelled from Kerkuk – 2 floors (300 m2)

ü Shahit Mahir Center by Kurdish Shabibat Babagurgur Center – 2 floors.

ü al-Nakhwa by Congress for the Freedom of Kurdistan / 2 floor

ü al-Hay al-Askeri – 1 floor

ü al-Qadisiyya al-Ula on the main street – 2 (375 m2)

ü al-Qadisiyya al-Thaniyya – 1 (348.66 m2)

ü Martyr Aoda in al-Qadisiyya al-Thaniyya 1 (359.36 m2)

ü al-Hurriyya al-Ula – 2 floors

ü al-Hurriyya al-Thaniya – 1 floor

ü Hay al-Nasr al-Ula (412.5 m2)

ü Hay al-Nasr al-Thaniyya – 2 floors

ü Hay al-Hujjaj – 1 floor

ü al-Uruba Quarter – 1 floor

ü al-Shorja – 2 floors

ü Hay Girnata – 1 (800m2)

ü Sakr al-Arab – 1 floor

ü 1 Mart – 2 floors

ü Hay al-Nidaa – 2 floors

15 buildings
Government Buildings: (Few of these buildings were evacuated)

ü General Security Directorate/close to Kerkuk Secondary School–4 floors

ü Building of store of Ministry of defense – 1 floors

ü al-Qudus Fidaiyyi Saddam Center in Hay al-Nur al-Thaniyya – 1 floor

ü al-Mansur Security Directorate – 1 floor

ü Military Guest Hose / Atlas Street 1 (800m2)

ü Mandhuma al-Sharqiyya Lial-Istithmarat – 2 floors

ü Kerkuk Recruitment (Tajnid) Directorate – 1 floor

ü Arapha Security Office -1 floor

ü Kerkuk Inspection (Jawazat) Directorate by Kurdish al-Taakhi Association – 1 floor.

ü Iraqi Women Union by under the same name by the Kurdish authorities – 2 floors.

ü Security Unit of Kerkuk/close to Directorate of agriculture by Kurdish Islamic Association–2 floors

ü Center of Jerusalem Army by Center of Kurdistan Democratic Party – 2 floors.

ü Workers Union Syndicate by Kurdish Workers Union and Faculty of Science – 3 floors.

ü Northern Center of Ba’ath Party Organizations by Kurdish Democratic Organizations/ Faili Kurds Foundation – 2 floors.

ü Building of store of foodstuffs

265 shops
215 shops were distributed to the Kurds at the Garage al-Hawija

12 complexes
Government complexes:

ü Both Kerkuk Physicians and Engineering clubs were occupied by the Kurdish Parties.

ü The Officer Housing complexes, which is turned into Kurdish Students Union Center includes:

· Officer Hosting department

· Officers Club

· Officer Market

ü The historical large Kerkuk Barracks, were taken by the Kurds and used as Kurdish Cultural Center.

ü Gunpowder Stores – several buildings

ü Scutcher

ü Directorate of municipalities

ü Directorate for social welfare in al-Wasiti neighborhood

ü The old large prison of Kerkuk,

ü Military Police complex in the center of the City. ± 0.5 x 0.5 km

ü The large Olympic Sports Complex in al-Shorja neighborhood.

ü National Kerkuk al-Sharika Sports Complex which is about 7 x 5 km2

ü Kerkuk Sports and Youth Complex by the Kurdistan Shabiba Union. ± 0.5 x 0.5 km

New Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods built by Kurds

1. Several Neighborhoods along the eastern border of Kerkuk city, which is about 25 kilometers. [Photo 1, 2 and 8]

2. Hundreds of houses on both sides of Leylan Road

3. Northern boundary of the city is extended about 10 km

4. Baghdad Road neighborhood behind the Festival Stadium, a public land appropriated by Kurdish families where they built ±100 houses.

5. Houses built in Hay al-Qadisiyya and Hay al-Askeri Neighborhoods.

6. Along both sides of the road (± 5Km) between Shorja and al-Qadiaiyya neighborhoods

7. Hundreds houses at the eastern side of the Musalla graveyard [Map 8]

8. Fifty houses behind the residential apartments on the football stadium Seyyid Kizi in Musalla neighborhoods

9. Sixty houses behind the old industry school in Musalla neighborhoods

10. 59 houses were built near the mosque Ashra al-Mubashshara and military account headquarters

11. 110 houses behind the police houses and in front of al-Amal al-Shaabi distributed to Kurdish families

12. Twenty Luxury houses of Domis distributed to Kurds – Korya side

13. Two hundreds Luxury houses of Domis distributed to Kurds – citadel side

14. Large number sporadic pieces of lands were built by Kurdish families inside the city

Enlarge the Map

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