SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdish and Arab farmers clashed in disputed Kirkuk province over a land dispute, said Esta reporter on Wednesday.
Arab settlers in Kirkuk’s Fariq village forcibly tried to cultivate the lands belonging to the Kurdish farmers, according to the reporter.
The incident result in a clash between both sides, Kurdish farmers who were indigenous people of the area and Arab settlers, he added.
No information was there on whether the clash caused any casualty on each side or not, but following the clash, the Arab settlers fled from the area, the reporter continued.
Kirkuk lies in an oil-rich and ethnically mixed part of Iraq. Control over the province has been contested by Kurdish and Iraqi authorities.
Kurdish forces used to control the Province when the Iraqi army fled during the Islamic State offensive back in 2014. However, the Iraqi forces retook the city in the wake of the Kurdish referendum for independence in 2017.
Since the federal government retook control of Kirkuk and other disputed areas from Kurdish forces, the areas have again been subjected to Arabization, and Arabs have been brought to settle in Kurdish areas in Kirkuk.
