Residents of Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian village of Kashkawa in Iraq appeal for urgent intervention to halt encroachments on village lands
KASHKAWA, Kurdistan Region of Iraq — Despite repeated appeals, demands, and statements of condemnation issued almost daily by residents of Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian villages and political parties, ongoing land encroachments and demographic change continue to affect Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian communities, their villages, towns, and ancestral lands. Residents say these appeals have largely resulted only in judicial rulings that remain unenforced, with no clear signs of implementation.
The situation has gone even further. In addition to the failure to enforce official court decisions, land seizures and encroachments continue unchecked and without accountability. This is the reality facing the village of Kashkawa, located in the district of Aqrah in Nohadra (Duhok), where residents say they have reached the limit of their patience over the continued encroachments and unresolved demographic changes.
In response, the people of Kashkawa have issued an urgent appeal addressed to Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the Presidency of the Kurdistan Parliament, representatives of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people in both the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and the federal government, Church leaders, and the heads of Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian political parties.
In their appeal, the residents stated:
“We urgently call for your immediate intervention to stop the blatant encroachment on the lands of our village of Kashkawa, in the Aqrah district, Dinarta sub-district. At a time when we were awaiting the fulfillment of repeated promises to enforce court rulings issued more than three years ago ordering the removal of the encroachments on our village’s lands, we were shocked to discover that the encroachers had once again cultivated those lands.”
The statement added that they had notified “the relevant government authorities in the area, but no action has been taken against the encroachers, and we have yet to receive any official response.”
The residents renewed their call for immediate intervention to halt the ongoing encroachments and enforce the court rulings in order to uphold justice, strengthen the rule of law, and preserve peaceful coexistence in the KRI.
The Nohadra Court of Appeal issued a ruling in June 2022 in favor of the village residents, overturning the previous cassation decision and imposing a fine of three million Iraqi dinars on the encroachers. The Court also ordered the removal of the illegal structure built on the disputed land and the restoration of the property to the village’s original inhabitants.
Encroachments and demographic changes affecting the lands of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people are not limited to Nohadra. Last week, Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian parties — including the Beth Nahrain Patriotic Union (Huyodo d’Bethnahrin Athroyo, HBA) — met with Nineveh Governor Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil to discuss the issue of demographic change in Nineveh, particularly in Tel Keppe (Tel Kaif), focusing on the distribution of residential land plots under the Jaber bin Hayyan Housing Project and in the al-Qawsiyat area.
The delegation warned that, “continuing with the project would have serious repercussions on the demographic composition and the historical rights of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people of Tel Keppe and, indeed, the entire region.”
The delegation further stressed that, “the projects violate the Iraqi Constitution and all applicable laws, which affirm the state’s responsibility to protect ethnic specificities and prohibit property acquisition and demographic change in their regions.”