A new chapter in the ongoing displacement of Kurdish citizens and arabization of Kurdish areas of Iraq opened recently, with the seizure and sale of properties belonging to Kurdish deportees in the Laylan Administrative District, south of the city of Kirkuk. A number of citizens from the region were forcibly expelled from their ancestral lands three years ago. Arab settlers have been brought in from other parts of Iraq to occupy the homes of these deportees, and the government has recently orchestrated auctions of these properties, in complete disregard of the legal title of their rightful owners. Currently, only Arabs can buy property in the city of Kirkuk.
