Assyrian–Kurdish land dispute

Assyrian-marked wall in Nahla valley

The Assyrian–Kurdish land dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between the Assyrians and Kurds over certain parts of Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan. The Assyrians believe they are specifically targeted by the Kurdistan Regional Government and therefore accuse them of land grabbing Assyrian towns and villages to broaden the territory as part of a strategy to "Kurdify" the Assyrian territories, thereby leading to population expulsion, migration and demographic change. Though some Assyrian leaders do not believe this policy exist, but had acknowledged that individual Kurds or Kurdish businesses have stolen Assyrian land. In Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and associated groups have taken over nine Assyrian villages around the frontline with Turkish-backed groups, seizing houses by force without any military justification.

Throughout the late 20th century, Assyrians have been caught up in several uprisings and suppressions in the region. As such, many of them fled their land, and over time Kurds moved in to the unused land. But later, many Assyrians returned with their deeds, and they endeavored to reclaim lands or be compensated. Despite the defeat of Islamic State in 2017 and the boost of democracy in Iraq that was once ruled by Saddam Hussein, Assyrians have still been dispossessed of their ancestral lands on the Nineveh Plain. In the consequence of the liberation of areas that were once under ISIS control, Shia and Kurdish forces have been attempting to seize land belonging to the Assyrians. Most of the Assyrians remaining in the village are elders who have declined to emigrate and relinquish their lifelong homes. Despite the efforts by the Assyrian to retain their properties, and thereby hinder the settlement of other groups in their villages, it is uncertain whether those who travelled abroad will return permanently to the area.

Iraqi Kurdistan

Landgrabs

A rusted entry sign to the village of Keshkawa

The Assyrian Aid Society of Iraq had recorded a list featuring landgrabs by Kurds to the United Nations over the past several decades; In 1963, the Zibari Clan, a prominent Kurdish tribe, stole 13.5 acres of land from the village of Cham Rabatkeh, and in 1991 Assyrian villages such as Qarawola, Yousif Ava, and Shwadin were overtaken by adjacent Kurdish tribes. In the years 1992 and 1994, Human Rights Watch acquired official documents which commanded the Kurdish encroachments on Christian land in Kashkawa and Rabitki, which are villages in Nahle Valley, to cease. In the Nahla Valley, there was substantial conflict between the Kurds and Assyrians, with a violent history, land squatting, and voter suppression since the establishment of Kurdistan Region. On July 17, 1999, an armed group belonging to the Assyrian Bethnahrin National Council attacked a PDK Peshmerga position in the region in retaliation for the murder of an Assyrian woman, which resulted in 39 deaths and 20 injured on the Kurdish side.

In 2009, report on the status of Assyrian Christian in Kurdistan, the Kurdish Regional Government commented that it "has never had a policy of taking lands or properties of Christians, and believes that land disputes between individuals must be resolved through the courts of law." The report stated that Nimrud Baito, the then-head of the Assyrian Patriotic Party, firmly rejected that there was politically motivated Kurdish annexation of Christian land, though he acknowledged that some encroachments and crimes existed, just like other places. An example being the village on the border with Syria, being a successful instance of the Kurdish regional government restoring Assyrian lands to their original owners. However, Assyrians have alleged that around 42 intrusions in their villages have occurred.

In recent years, the Kurdistan Regional Government is frequently accused by Assyrian and Chaldean communities of seizing lands and villages in the provinces of Duhok and Erbil for personal or financial gain. According to the Foreign Policy journal, around three-fourths of Qashkawa's territory was seized by Kurdish authority in 2019. In 2020, 117 Assyrian families in the Nahla Valley lost 75% of their lands after the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq overturned a law designed to preserve Assyrian proprietorship. In April 2021, the KRG seized 100 hectares of farmland owned by local Assyrian farmers in Ankawa, northern Iraq. Moreover, Erbil International Airport was constructed by the KRG on land owned by Assyrians without reparation. Dams were also constructed on Assyrian-owned lands with a high Assyrian population, prompting displacement.

According to a spokesperson for Open Doors Canada, Monica Ratra, the displaced Assyrians have been facing harassments from Kurds, and alleged that Kurds have been involved in "Kurdification" of the Nineveh Plain and other areas of Kurdistan. Though some Assyrians living in Erbil have assimilated well into the Kurdish community, where they have jobs and speak Kurdish fluently. The Barnabas Aid stated that "the Christian towns and villages in the Nineveh Plains were abandoned by the Kurdish Peshmerga", in 2014, and "the Christians are therefore understandably wary of trusting the Kurds for their future security." The Christian Solidarity International reported incidents where Kurdish militia abducted young Assyrian men to use as conscripts in fighting in Syria.

Territorial disputes

According to the International Crisis Group, the disputed territory in northern Iraq “encompasses an area with a rich blend of ethnic and religious communities.” Throughout the 2010s, Assyrians were caught between the territorial dispute between the federal and Kurdish governments, as some took refuge in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The Kurds and Iraqi Shia-led government tried to purchase abandoned lands that belonged to Assyrians after they were forced to flee the Nineveh Plain in 2014 after the ISIL uprising. After the defeat of ISIS in 2017, around 10,000 internally displaced Assyrians and Christians returned to their lands. Though when the Kurds held their independence referendum in 2017, military clashes between Iraqi and Kurdish armies enforced a lot of the returning Assyrians to go back to Kurdistan, with their plight worsening after the referendum as the Assyrians were at the bottom of the priority list for the Kurdish government. Many Assyrians did not return to their villages, fearing that the conflict between the Kurds and Iraqis will worsen. The contested security between the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Shia paramilitary force PMU and presence of Arab-dominated militias in the Nineveh Plains has prevented the return of thousands of residents back to Tel Keppe.

In May 2022, a group of Kurdish men from the Kurdistan Democratic Party returned to Badarash and began to place fences, and disputed that the land belonged to them. The Assyrians resisted them and attempted to obstruct them from raising the wall, claiming that it was their land. This incident transpired in a confrontation between the two groups, where the police arrested two Assyrians who were filming the incident and the Kurdish group involved in the altercation. Although the incident was a minor one, it created an emotional reaction among Assyrians worldwide on social media. The CSW condemned the Kurdistan Regional Government after the incident. In 2023, Kurdish imposed checkpoints in the Nahla which posed challenges to the Assyrians living there who intend to enter their villages, including an incident in July 2023 that caused considerable controversy. Though it is uncertain whether the Assyrians have been targeted for their religion or ethnicity during territorial disputes.

2016 protest blocking

photo taken by one of the protestors

In April 2016, Kurdish security forces established roadblocks at the exit of Nahla valley to hinder Assyrian and Christian families from entering Erbil to protest in front of the Kurdish regional parliament, including those not planning to protest. The Assyrians had intended to speak out against what they say is usurpation on their land by Kurds. A few Assyrians in the land reported to Human Rights Watch that Kurdish neighbors had invaded Assyrian Christian-owned lands, which included the Nahla valley and a few other areas in northern Iraq. The motivation for the protest was the extension of an edifice by Kurd who had earlier built on Assyrian land in the Nahle Valley. They stated that while they had property rights, neither court orders nor appeals to officials succeeded in eliminating structures that Kurdish neighbors had constructed on their land. American political activist Joe Stork commented that "A peaceful public protest is an activity that the authorities should protect, not prevent, especially not by prohibiting travel based on their religion". Over over 50 instances of Kurdish encroachment on Assyrian land has been recorded in Sarsink.

In response, KRG Coordinator Dr. Dindar Zebari stated that Iraqi Kurdistan was in a crucial security situation. He expressed that the mayor of Akre had notified the Assyrian protesters to wait for official action before protesting, and that Erbil at the time had a sensitive security situation. A letter was written to then-president Masoud Barzani by the representatives of several Assyrian parties including the Assyrian National Party, where they stated, "the file of encroachments taking place on the villages and lands of our people in all of the governorates of Dohuk and Erbil is becoming larger day by day." (see also 2016 Assyrian protest)

Syrian Kurdistan

Once a Christian-majority city, the rural migration to Qamishli has expanded the Kurdish population of the city. Since the Democratic Union Party (PYD) militia took control of the city in 2012 they carried out a Kurdification process affecting all aspects of life, starting by changing the name of the city to Qamishlo, to cultural and social aspects of the city. The Christian and even Arab population in the city strongly opposed to the PYD rule. Half the Christian population left by 2017 although no conflict occurred in the city. In 2018, Kurdish authorities closed private Assyrian schools in Qamishli because their curriculum did not support Kurdish nationalist ideology.

As the number of displaced people (who included Kurds and Arabs) increased in 2019 in the villages of the Al-Hasakah District, tensions started looming with their Assyrian hosts over land and property use, where it became progressively difficult to manage who lived in the villages. Localized conflicts ensued as Assyrians protested against newcomers, who are Kurds and some Arabs, grazing their cattle in Assyrian fields, cutting trees and vines for firewood or amending the design of houses to host multiple families. This led to numerous Assyrians claiming that some of the displaced Kurdish and Arab families were "faking" being displaced and were rather squatting in the settlements to receive assistance, though this insight was likely exaggerated.

Local Assyrian leaders grasped that the persistent presence of displaced newcomers as a threat, as they felt like "strangers" in their own home, with some, like Gabriel Moushe from Assyrian Democratic Organization stating "serious fears that this situation will lead to permanent demographic change." These worries heightened in August 2022 when the village of Tell Nasri was targeted by what many Assyrian leaders called “an attempt to settle by force”, where over 300 people arrived and broke doors, entering homes. Moreover, there was an instance where Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) soldiers seized a home belonging to an absentee, although these allegations could not be verified. Assyrian properties that were not destroyed by ISIS have been in danger due to military activities and the existence of dozens of tunnels dug by the SDF near the frontline. The SDF recognized the tunnels and military points, but they declare that they are justified for military uses.

See also

• Assyrian independence movement
• Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq
• Assyrian nationalism
• Assyrian homeland