"No Houses for the Arabs" in Kurdistan

“It is true that Arabs are supporting the markets here. Many of them are government employees or pensioners and they spend their monthly salaries here,” Saber adds. “But at the same time they are a burden on the region's power, water and health services and they take a share of what should belong to the local Kurdish people.”

There is also another theory that says that higher prices in Iraqi Kurdistan have been caused by the influx of displaced Arabs. More demand means higher prices, suggests Abubaker, the head of Sulaymaniyah's council. “Arab citizens are behind the rise in prices here. That is why we took these steps – in response to demand from local Kurds.”

The decision taken in Sulaymaniyah has had a knock on effect – now locals in Iraqi Kurdistan's other two provinces – Dohuk and Erbil – are also asking if they could enact a similar rule.

“The Kurdish Parliament couldn’t make a decision like this because it violates the Iraqi constitution,” says Saber. “This says that any Iraqi citizen can own property, from Basra [in the south] to Dohuk. It is only the provincial councils, like in Sulaymaniyah, who can make these kinds of rules. They have the right to ask the Iraqi government to be responsible for all of the displaced people in the province.

If it doesn’t take that responsibility, then it is only fair that displaced people not be allowed to own property.”