“I don’t have a problem with hosting displaced people in the city,” Kaulusy told NIQASH. “Nor will I have in the future. However I do think this needs to be regulated. After all, what happens if more and more displaced persons come and eventually change the demography of the region? The sale of land and houses to Arabs will endanger the Kurdish culture and the Kurdish themselves may not be able to find real estate they want,” he suggests. “If tough measures are not put in place, there will be serious consequences for Iraqi Kurdistan.”
Kaulusy, a self-described “nationalist”, also believes that Sulaymaniyah’s governor made this decision under pressure from the real estate industry and developers, without taking into account other factors.
The governor’s decision also saw protestors gather outside the provincial council buildings recently. In a statement, they said that they thought it was all about a conspiracy to bring more Arabs to Sulaymaniyah.
For now though, the voices of those who would welcome Iraq’s Arabs to Sulaymaniyah are still louder. “Racist Kurds are saying the Arabs will occupy Sulaymaniyah,” local writer Kamyar Sabir told NIQASH. “They want to say that there is a relationship between the ownership of a house and sovereignty. Such hatred is nothing but racism,” he concludes.
Comments are closed.