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SHWAN,
Kurdistan-Iraq - Even a year ago, the dusty, rolling
hills north of Kirkuk were largely barren. But the
horizon has changed rapidly in recent months with a
flurry of newly constructed cinderblock homes
dotting the hillsides.
Thousands of returning Kurds have transformed
pockets of land around this northern city into small
settlements -- leading to the rebirth of villages
once emptied out by former dictator Saddam Hussein
under his "Arabization" plan to force out ethnic
Kurds and Turkomen.
In this village 15 miles northeast of Kirkuk,
hundreds of new houses have sprouted since January
as the flow of displaced Kurds returning to the area
grew steadily after the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam in
2003.
"We are starting from the beginning again," said
Mayor Abdul Samad Rahim Karim. "God willing, we will
succeed in making Shwan better than before."
The returnees are a legacy from Saddam's era when
the Baathist Party forcibly expelled tens of
thousands of Kurds and Turkomen and replaced them
with Arabs from the south to consolidate government
control over oil resources and farmlands located in
northern Iraq.
In other places, the Kurds' return, many to
squatters' camps around the city, along with their
demands for restoration of their property, have
provoked sharp protests from many Arabs as well as
Turkomen in the community.
The interim constitution's Article 58 sets out vague
guidelines for resolving property disputes, but
there has been no final ruling on it. The Iraqi
Property Claims Commission, set up last year to
resolve disputes, has recorded some 35,000 claims.
Only 1,800 cases have been adjudicated so far,
according to the U.S. military.
But in places like Shwan, which borders the
autonomously ruled Kurdistan, there has been little
protest since the land had not been used for
residential areas.
Holding up a copy of the June 1987 edict where
Saddam ordered the "cancellation" of Shwan, the
mayor recounted how the town and surrounding
villages were razed and turned into a restricted
military training area.
The building now being used as City Hall was one of
only three left standing in the area when he came in
2003, said Karim, a Kurd whose family was forced
from nearby Kirkuk in the 1980s.
The area's resurrection, and the accompanying
construction boom, has come in part because of
American forces, who have spent $2 million on new
schools, water wells, and roads in this one northern
sector since January.
"We consider this a success story," said Staff Sgt.
Mike Blair, with the 1st Battalion 148th Field
Artillery Regiment from Idaho, who has helped
coordinate infrastructure projects as part of the
unit's civil affairs team.
"Seven months ago, nothing was here. Only a few
foundations had been laid. It's amazing what's
happened here," he said.
Citing close cooperation with coalition forces,
Karim happily rattled off a list of
American-supported projects, among them $81,000 to
rehabilitate the government buildings, $29,000 for
the police headquarters, and $49,00 for a primary
school named after an American military commander.
Earlier on, the area had been a "tent city" with
many returnees setting up temporary shelter, but
most of the tents are now gone since most people
have managed to put up roofs and start rebuilding
homes.
Many have gotten help from the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, one of the two main Kurdish political
parties, which has given each returning family
$1,500 and 10 tons of cement, Karim said.
The rebuilding boom has left much of the village in
a state of dust-covered construction. Tractors and
bulldozers rumble over the roads as new water and
sewer pipelines are being installed.
Under a hot sun on a recent morning, resident
Mohammed Fatih, 37, labored beside his construction
crew as they worked on his half-built, two-story
house.
"We were farmers here. When we returned in 2003, it
was rubble here. Nothing was left. It was all gone.
Once we got funds, we decided to rebuild a year ago.
Hopefully we will finish in two or three months," he
said.
For Fatih, the memory of his departure from his
hometown remains clear: "It was June 17, 1987. The
government came here and asked us to leave within
three days or we would be arrested. I was 19 years
old."
As he walked through the skeleton of his home, Fatih
softly patted a bare wall: "We have been anxious to
come back home. The dream has come true."
AP
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