On July 16, Amin issued a decision saying that real estate and other property could be registered in the names of Iraqi Arabs and other foreign citizens, on the condition that they had been vetted by local security.
“The province is suffering a lot from a lack of liquidity,” the deputy governor of Sulaymaniyah, Sardar Qadir, told NIQASH. “There is not a lot of buying and selling going on. We wanted to revive the markets somewhat and that’s why we’ve made this decision. We want people who appreciate the stability of the city to come and live here, and to invest in Sulaymaniyah.”
“The time when there was only one voice and one language in this city is in the past,” Qadir continued. “We are living in a time when cities must open up to the world and if we want to eventually build a Kurdish state, we need to have good relations with Iraq, Turkey and the Arabs of Iraq. Life – and peaceful coexistence – is based on being a good neighbour.”
The new decision actually replaces one made by Sulaymaniyah’s provincial council in late 2015, which basically said that only Kurds could register real estate, residences or business property until after the security crisis was over.
Unsurprisingly, opinions on the latest decision – to allow Arabs to own property in Sulaymaniyah – are split. Some locals believe this will lead to an influx of Arabs and the loss of the Kurdish nature of the province. Others, who are thought to be the majority, welcome the new ruling.
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